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Sensory Ecology
Sensory ecology is a relatively new field focusing on the information organisms obtain about their environment. It includes questions of what information is obtained, how it is obtained (the mechanism), and why the information is useful to the organism (the function). Sensory ecology is the study of how organisms acquire, process, and respond to information from their environment. All individual organisms interact with their environment (consisting of both animate and inanimate components), and exchange materials, energy, and sensory information. Ecology has generally focused on the exchanges of matter and energy, while sensory interactions have generally been studied as influences on behavior and functions of certain physiological systems (sense organs). The relatively new area of sensory ecology has emerged as more researchers focus on questions concerning information in the environment. This field covers topics ranging from the neurobiological mechanisms of sensory systems to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Information
Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (logic), formally) of that which may be sensed, or their abstractions. Any natural process that is not completely random and any observable pattern in any Media (communication), medium can be said to convey some amount of information. Whereas digital signals and other data use discrete Sign (semiotics), signs to convey information, other phenomena and artifacts such as analog signals, analogue signals, poems, pictures, music or other sounds, and current (fluid), currents convey information in a more continuous form. Information is not knowledge itself, but the meaning (philosophy), meaning that may be derived from a representation (mathematics), representation through interpretation. The concept of ''information'' is relevant or connected t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermotaxis
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. Lab research has determined that some slime molds and small nematodes (namely Meloidogyne incognita) can migrate along very shallow temperature gradients of less than 0.1°C/cm and sometimes as low as 0.001°C/cm. Theoretical analysis indicates that even this impressive feat is far from pushing the limits set by thermal noise. The natural environment always contains temperature gradients that organisms could respond to, if it were useful. The response of the slime mold and nematode is complicated and thought to allow them to move toward an appropriate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxis
A taxis (; : taxes ) is the motility, movement of an organism in response to a Stimulus (physiology), stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are innate behavioural responses. A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stimulus) in that in the case of taxis, the organism has motility and demonstrates guided movement towards or away from the stimulus source. It is sometimes distinguished from a Kinesis (biology), kinesis, a non-directional change in activity in response to a stimulus. Taxis can be positive (moving towards the stimulus) or negative (moving away from the stimulus). Classification Taxes are classified based on the type of stimulus, and on whether the organism's response is to move towards or away from the stimulus. If the organism moves towards the stimulus the taxis are positive, while if it moves away the taxis are negative. For example, flagellate protozoans of the genus ''Euglena'' move towards a light so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stimulus (physiology)
In physiology, a stimulus is a change in a living thing's internal or external environment. This change can be detected by an organism or organ using sensitivity, and leads to a physiological reaction. Sensory receptors can receive stimuli from outside the body, as in touch receptors found in the skin or light receptors in the eye, as well as from inside the body, as in chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors. When a stimulus is detected by a sensory receptor, it can elicit a reflex via stimulus transduction. An internal stimulus is often the first component of a homeostatic control system. External stimuli are capable of producing systemic responses throughout the body, as in the fight-or-flight response. In order for a stimulus to be detected with high probability, its level of strength must exceed the absolute threshold; if a signal does reach threshold, the information is transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), where it is integrated and a decision on how to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the brain. Only acoustic waves that have frequency, frequencies lying between about 20 Hz and 20 kHz, the audio frequency range, elicit an auditory percept in humans. In air at atmospheric pressure, these represent sound waves with wavelengths of to . Sound waves above 20 kHz are known as ultrasound and are not audible to humans. Sound waves below 20 Hz are known as infrasound. Different animal species have varying hearing ranges, allowing some to even hear ultrasounds. Definition Sound is defined as "(a) Oscillation in pressure, stress, particle displacement, particle velocity, etc., propagated in a medium with internal forces (e.g., elastic or viscous), or the superposition of such propagated oscillation. (b) Auditory sen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signalling Theory
Within evolutionary biology, signalling theory is a body of theoretical work examining communication between individuals, both within species and across species. The central question is how organisms with conflicting interests, such as in sexual selection, are expected to provide honest signals rather than deceive or cheat, given that the passing on of pleiotropic traits is subject to natural selection, which aims to minimize associated costs without assuming any conscious intent. Mathematical models describe how signalling can contribute to an evolutionarily stable strategy. Signals are given in contexts such as mate selection by females, which subjects the advertising males' signals to selective pressure. Signals thus evolve because they modify the behaviour of the receiver to benefit the signaller. Signals may be honest, conveying information which usefully increases the fitness of the receiver, or dishonest. An individual can cheat by giving a dishonest signal, which m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiosphere
The semiosphere is a concept in cultural semiotics and Biosemiotics, biosemiotic theory, according to which - contrary to ideas of nature determining sense and experience - the Phenomenon, phenomenal world is a creative and logical structure of processes of semiosis where Sign (semiotics), signs operate together to produce sense and experience. Overview Biosemiotic theorists regard the idea of the semiosphere as beginning with Continental philosophy, continental philosophers' recognition of an epistemological gap between the Ontology, ontological and the ontic, where it is initially difficult to conceptualize the way that Subject (philosophy), subjectivity is created in between them. The study of the semiosphere has often overlapped into research made by Symbolic interactionism, symbolic interactionists and Field theory (psychology), field theorists. The Subject (philosophy), subject's Narrative structure, narrative boundary-understanding of its environment—the lifeworld a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olfaction
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, it occurs when an odor binds to a receptor within the nasal cavity, transmitting a signal through the olfactory system. Glomeruli aggregate signals from these receptors and transmit them to the olfactory bulb, where the sensory input will start to interact with parts of the brain responsible for smell identification, memory, and emotion. There are many different things which can interfere with a normal sense of smell, including damage to the nose or smell receptors, anosmia, upper respiratory infections, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative disease. History of study Early scientific study of the sense of smell includes the extensive doctoral dissertation of Eleanor Gamble, published in 1898, which compared olfactory to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Migration (other)
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum length of time Natural sciences Biology * Migration (ecology), the large-scale movement of species from one environment to another ** Animal migration ** Bird migration * Plant migration, see Seed dispersal, the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant * Gene migration, a process in evolution and population genetics * Cell migration, a process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms ** Collective cell migration, describing the movements of group of cells Physics and chemistry * Molecular diffusion, in physics * Migration (chemistry), type of reaction in organic chemistry * Seismic migration, in seismic and ground penetrating radar data processing * Microscopic motion of material caused by an exter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosemiotics
Ecosemiotics is a branch of semiotics in its intersection with human ecology, ecological anthropology and ecocriticism. It studies sign processes in culture, which relate to other living beings, communities, and landscapes. Ecosemiotics also deals with sign-mediated aspects of ecosystems. As stressed in ecosemiotic studies, environment has semiotic quality in different ways and levels. Material environment has affordances and potentials to participate in sign relations. Animal species attribute meanings to the environment based on their needs and umwelts. In human culture, environment can become meaningful in literary and artistic representations or through symbolization of animals or landscapes. Cultural representations of the environment in turn influence the natural environment through human actions. Ecosemiotics analyzes processes, transmissions and problems that occur in and between the different semiotic layers of the environment. The central focus of ecosemiotics concern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mechanism (biology)
In biology, a mechanism is a system of causally interacting parts and processes that produce one or more effects. Phenomena can be explained by describing their mechanisms. For example, natural selection is a mechanism of evolution; other mechanisms of evolution include genetic drift, mutation, and gene flow. In ecology, mechanisms such as predation and host-parasite interactions produce change in ecological systems. In practice, no description of a mechanism is ever complete because not all details of the parts and processes of a mechanism are fully known. For example, natural selection is a mechanism of evolution that includes countless, inter-individual interactions with other individuals, components, and processes of the environment in which natural selection operates. Characterizations/ definitions Many characterizations/definitions of mechanisms in the philosophy of science/biology have been provided in the past decades. For example, one influential characterization of neu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
