Taxes (biology)

thumb|Capillary tube assay for chemotaxis. Motile prokaryotes sense chemicals in their environment and change their motility accordingly. Absent chemicals, movement is completely random. When an attractant or repellent is present, runs become longer and tumbles become less frequent. The result is net movement towards or away from the chemical (i.e., up or down the chemical gradient). The net movement can be seen in the beaker, where the bacteria accumulate around the origin of the attractant, and away from the origin of the repellent. Chemotaxis (from chemo- + taxis) is the movement of an orga

thumb|A moth exhibiting phototaxis, moving towards a source of light A taxis (; : taxes ) is the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are innate behavioural responses.

thumb|upright=2|right| Red arrows indicate the likely point of origin of phototaxis in a given group. Question marks indicate uncertainties regarding independent or common origin.

(Positive) Rheotaxis is a form of taxis, or movement in response to stimuli, seen in many aquatic organisms like fish. It generally involves turning to face an oncoming current. In a flowing stream, this behavior leads them to hold their position rather than being swept downstream by the current. Rheotaxis has been noted in zebrafish and other species, and is found in most major aquatic invertebrate groups. This movement is important for animal survival because the positioning of an animal in the water can increase its chance of accessing food and lower the amount of energy it spends, especial

Magnetotaxis is a process implemented by a diverse group of Gram-negative bacteria that involves orienting and coordinating movement in response to Earth's magnetic field. This process is mainly carried out by microaerophilic and anaerobic bacteria found in aquatic environments such as salt marshes, seawater, and freshwater lakes. By sensing the magnetic field, the bacteria are able to orient themselves towards environments with more favorable oxygen concentrations. This orientation towards more favorable oxygen concentrations allows the bacteria to reach these environments faster as opposed t

Thermotaxis is a behavior in which an organism directs its locomotion up or down a gradient of temperature. Thermotaxis is a behavior that organisms navigate on depending on the temperature. “Thermo” means heat and or the temperature and “taxis” refers to the direction or the movement. Thermotaxis is for the organism to find the best way to survive, it depends on whether it will survive in the warm or the cold.

In cellular biology, durotaxis is a form of cell migration in which cells are guided by rigidity gradients, which arise from differential structural properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Most normal cells migrate up rigidity gradients (in the direction of greater stiffness).

In cellular biology, haptotaxis () is the directional motility or outgrowth of cells, e.g. in the case of axonal outgrowth, usually up a gradient of cellular adhesion sites or substrate-bound chemoattractants (the gradient of the chemoattractant being expressed or bound on a surface, in contrast to the classical model of chemotaxis, in which the gradient develops in a soluble fluid). These gradients are naturally present in the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the body during processes such as angiogenesis, or artificially present in biomaterials where gradients are established by altering the co