Taxi. Positive taxis Specify the process definition of negative taxis

From territorialism, which goes back to animals, let us turn to taxis - the movements of plants. We go even further, we plunge even deeper into the archaic layers of our psyche. From motive-zoology we pass to motive-botany.

“Taxis are ordered free movements caused by external stimuli” (R. Vainar, 1987, p. 48).

If the movement occurs in the direction of the source of irritation - we have a positive taxis. In the opposite case, one speaks of a negative taxis.

For example, the purple bacterium Thiospirillum. At one end it has a bundle of flagella. As soon as this end of the spirilla falls into darkness, it reverses its movement, and the bundle of flagella turns in the opposite direction (Fig. 3.3).

Rice. 3. 3. Positive photophobic response of Thiospirilum (by: Vainar R., 1987, p. 49)

Position 2 - entry into the bright field,

positions 4 and 7 - reverse feedback

on the border between light and dark fields

The spirilla appears to be "afraid" of the dark. However, trying to "run away" from the darkness, she continues to move across the illuminated field until she again finds herself in a darkened area. Then the bacterium turns around and again “runs away” from the darkness. So gradually she moves to a drift in the illuminated area.

The illuminated field in which bacteria collect is called a light trap. If the lighting becomes too strong, the bacteria leave the field (according to: Vainar R., 1987, pp. 49-50).

The movements of the spirilla are a typical example of a photophobic response. According to the nature of the response, topotaxis and phobotaxis are distinguished. If topotaxis is a purposeful change in the direction of movement, then phobotaxis gives the impression of a “fright reaction” (“phobos” in Greek means “fear”), and at the same time the body enters the area of ​​​​optimal action of the stimulus, so to speak, in a roundabout way” (Vainar R. , 1987, p. 48).

For the purposes of motivational training, it is sufficient to divide taxises into positive and negative ones. If desired, however, one can also use the concept of phobotaxis, understanding it as chaotic movements in response to a frightening stimulus.

Various types of taxis in biology are given in Table. 3.2 (according to: Vainar R., 1987).

Table 3.2

Types of taxis in biology

The end of the table. 3.2.

	Taxis name	The nature of the actions invoked
Temperature	Thermotaxis
Electricity	Galvanotaxis
The force of gravity	Geotaxis
	hydrotaxis
Touch	thigmotaxis
	Traumatotaxis	Negative

A person also has a desire for automatic actions, due to the attractiveness or disgust of an external stimulus. At the same time, the attractiveness of a stimulus does not at all mean its unconditional biological usefulness for the organism. The disgust of the stimulus is also subjective and is by no means always associated with the objective biological harmfulness of the stimulus.

It is important for us to establish that certain stimuli under certain conditions almost automatically cause certain actions in people in general or in this particular person, and this automatism is irresistible or very difficult to overcome, even if it is realized.

The automatically emerging desire to approach the stimulus or move away from it we will call taxis. The names of taxis are given according to the characteristics of the stimulus that causes them.

In table. 3.3 shows four types of taxis that I have established in the process of working on the literature and on the basis of my own experience.

Table 3. 3.

Supposed types of taxis in humans

	Taxis name	The nature of the actions invoked
	Neo-taxis (novelty reflex)	Positive - movement towards a new stimulus	The desire to approach a new subject, consider it, try out its capabilities
Charisma 1 (in the simplest case - beauty)	Charisma taxis	Positive - movement towards a charismatic personality and behind it	The desire to get close to an attractive person and keep up with him
Time dragging out	Chrono taxis	Negative - moving away from a situation in which everything is done too slowly	The desire to avoid dragging out work, lengthiness in other people's explanations, slowness of someone's reactions, actions, etc.
Limitation of space and time	Limit taxis (freedom reflex)	Negative - moving away from and out of narrow boundaries (cramped space, constraining time frames, symbolic restrictions imposed by rules, etc.)	Refusal to always work in the same place, struggle against the assigned strict regulations, attempts to circumvent or violate rules and restrictions

1 Charisma - the ability to attract people to yourself, captivating them with your personality and your goals.

A charismatic personality is a person whose goals you want to recognize as your own (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 1982).

In the course of the team work "Taxis" (Day 2), the participants of the first group of the training in Moscow ("Arsenal", September 1999) identified other taxis, which then, during the last day and a half of the training, "worked" - the participants noticed their manifestations , referred to them, describing the previous experience, tried to evoke them, motivating other participants. This list is given in Table. 3.4.

Table 3.4

Types of taxis established in the first group of motivational training in Moscow

Continuation of table 3. 4.

	Taxis name	The nature of the actions invoked
	Audio taxi	Positive or negative - movement towards or away from the sound	Music - pleasant or unpleasant, too loud, etc.
Information	Info taxi	Most often positive, but can be negative - movement towards or away from the source of information	Knowledge is power, information increases the possibilities of influence and development, but at the same time, “who increases knowledge, increases sorrow”
Material values	Mat-taxis	Positive - movement towards money, material values	Moving to where there are more values
	Color taxis	Positive or negative - movement towards or away from the color stimulus	Attractive or repulsive coloring of rooms, things
	Rhythm taxis	Positive or negative - movement towards or away from the rhythm source	Rhythmic music, metronome, rhythmic organization work
Good food	gourmet taxi	Positive, although in rare cases it can be negative - movement towards food (if a person is on a diet - away from it)	The desire to get closer to the source of food; the desire to work in an organization that provides good food
	gourmet taxi	Positive, although in rare cases it can be negative - movement towards food (if a person is on a diet, away from it)	1) Attracting customers to the Ramstore store with pleasant smells; 2) Lighting incense sticks in the office; 3) The smell of coffee in the reception area; 4) A strong smell of chemicals in the photo-printing laboratory (“so that they do not peep secret documents”), etc.
Erotic object	Eroto-taxis	Positive or negative - movement towards or away from the erotic object	“I want to work in an organization where there are people of the opposite sex” or: “He is too attractive, it is better to stay away from him”

The end of the table. 3.4

	Taxis name	The nature of the actions invoked
Uncertainty	Taxis incognito	Negative - movement away from uncertainty (very rarely - positive: in people who "want to increase the level of adrenaline in the blood" - movement towards uncertainty)	The ambiguity of the meaning of other people's actions, situations, for example: “Today the courses begin. Are you going to the courses? Then I'll put you on another list."
Boss	Boss Taxi	Movement towards or away from superiors	The presence of the boss determines the direction of movement, for example: "Ivan Ivanovich will be there." "Then I'll come too."

Comparing table. 3.3 and 3.4, we see that some taxis overlap to some extent, such as rhythmo-taxis and limit-taxis, boss-taxis and charisma-taxis, info-taxis and neo-taxis.

However, these coincidences are only partial. Rhythm taxis coincides with limit taxis only if we consider rhythm broadly, for example, as the rhythm of the work of an organization. Boss-taxis and charisma-taxis do not always coincide, since not every boss is charismatic.

Info-taxis and neo-taxis do not always coincide. A new stimulus attracts, but it is not always clear what new information it carries, it is only a signal of supposedly new information, but not this information itself. On the other hand, info-taxis can reflect the desire not so much for new as for accurate information, since the approximate one is already available.

Given that the listed taxis do not match completely, it is useful to keep this entire list. During the training, it will be possible to refer to those taxis that were discovered by previous groups. Undoubtedly, it will be useful to replenish the list of taxis at each new training.

Included in multicellular organisms, and intracellular parts under the influence of various factors (irritants) are called taxis (from the Greek word taxis - order, arrangement).

These movements can be either towards the stimulus - positive taxis, or away from it - negative. Those irritants that attract to themselves are called attractants (from the Latin word attraxo - I attract), and the irritants from which they move away are called repellents (from the Latin word repello - I repel, drive away). There are also movements that are not oriented in relation to the source of irritation.

If the stimulus is light, then the movement is called phototaxis, if the chemical substance is chemotaxis, the temperature is thermotaxis, the damage is traumataxis, the electric current is galvanotaxis, the force of gravity is geotaxis, etc.

The same irritant can be an attractant for some species, and a repellent for others. So, a unicellular euglena always moves towards a light source, and a trumpeter infusoria always moves away from it.

Taxis may depend on the intensity of the stimulus. For example, phototaxis can be positive at low light intensity, negative at high light intensity, and not appear at all at moderate light intensity. Negative galvanotaxis (when the movement goes towards the cathode) in the ciliates of the shoe with increasing current strength is replaced by a positive one. And it is quite difficult to determine what thermotaxis this ciliate has. If the shoe is placed in a horizontal tube along which there is a temperature difference from +40°C at one end to +15°C at the other, then after a while all the ciliates will accumulate in the place of the tube where the temperature is +26°, +27° FROM. Here for them, apparently, the most favorable conditions: neither hot nor cold.

Thanks to taxis, single-celled organisms find food, find places with more favorable living conditions, and also find individuals of their own species and avoid harmful influences.

Of the intracellular taxises, the phototaxis of chloroplasts in the leaf of a plant is best studied. They contain chlorophyll, thanks to which it goes into the light. Usually in leaves in the dark, chloroplasts are more or less evenly distributed along all walls. In moderate light, they move towards walls perpendicular to the incident light. This achieves maximum illumination of chloroplasts. With a significant increase in the brightness of light, chloroplasts move to walls that are parallel to the light beam, and their illuminated surface is reduced to a minimum. The biological significance of chloroplast phototaxis is obvious.

One of the main properties of a living organism is movement or response to an irritating factor. In developed organisms, movement is a muscular act, the implementation of which is achieved due to the influence of a nerve impulse on a muscle. However, in elementary organisms, movement and response to stimulation take on a somewhat different form. In general, these phenomena are united in the concept of "taxis". This is a motor reaction of the body, its part or a separate organelle in the direction of the stimulus or away from it. In plants, the term "tropism" has a similar interpretation. Taxis and tropisms can be positive or negative.

Sources of irritation

Sources of irritation capable of provoking taxis are factors of animate and inanimate nature. Any physical phenomena, biological factors or chemical substances are capable of causing the movement of an organism if its vital activity depends on them. For example, chemotaxis is a directed movement towards the location of a chemical. If the cell moves towards the molecule that has value as a metabolic substrate, then such chemotaxis is positive. Negative chemotaxis is the deliberate increase in the distance between a chemical and a cell. An example of positive chemotaxis is the movement of a leukocyte to the site of inflammation.

Negative chemical taxis is an active flight of cells or an attempt to delimit from them if substances are capable of leading to their death. Also, the source of irritation is electromagnetic radiation with different wavelengths, liquid, soil and other factors. In each case, taxis can be positive, that is, the organism, its part or its separate organoid, approaches the stimulus, or negative. Negative taxis is a deliberate increase in the distance between the organism and the irritating factor.

Tropism and taxis

Tropism is a particular example of taxis in plants. They have many landmarks in relation to which they move during life or daily cycles. For example, the tops of almost all photosynthetic plants have negative geotropism and positive heliotropism. This means that they seek to reach the sun in order to increase the efficiency of photosynthesis. Plants also have positive hydrotropism, negative thermotropism.

Specific tropisms and taxises

Having understood what taxis is in biology, the definition of specific stimuli for some organisms allows us to understand the features of their metabolism. In particular, organisms whose metabolism must proceed at high temperatures have positive thermotropism. There is also magnetotaxis, anemotaxis (movement in the direction of air), barotaxis, cytotaxis, rheotaxis (depending on the flow in water bodies), galvanotaxis (in relation to electric current). At the same time, taxis is a fundamental type of behavior of unicellular or multicellular organisms. Only in relation to the reference point, which is any of the above factors, organisms are able to move in wildlife.

Movement towards the stimulus.

Source: "Dictionary of Botanical Terms"

I.A. Dudki, Kyiv, Naukova Dumka, 1984

Nikolai Avgustovich Monteverde (1856-1929) - a botanist, graduated from a course at St. Petersburg University, a specialist in plant physiology, was the chief botanist of the Imperial St. Petersburg Botanical Garden. N. A. Monteverde's book became an atlas of Russian flora. It included plants typical both for the European part of the Russian Empire and for its outskirts, for example, the Caucasus, Siberia or Turkmenistan. The book is also supplemented with a convenient reference and bibliographic section. Reproduced in the original author's spelling of the 1916 edition (publishing house "Petrograd. Edition by A. F. Devrien").

In the "Botanical Atlas" the reader will find a description of about 800 species of agricultural and wild plants, including the main agricultural crops, tree species, medicinal, ether-bearing, weeds and other plants that have one or another economic significance and are also widespread in the territory. USSR.tables The atlas is illustrated with 149 multicolor tables and 57 figures. Color images of plants convey not only the shape and relative sizes, but also their natural color. The material in the atlas is arranged in a systematic manner, in accordance with modern ideas about the evolution of the organic world. schools and many people who come into contact with plants and are interested in them in their activities, the "Botanical Atlas" will be an interesting and useful illustrated guide in the knowledge of plants in our country. Reproduced in the original author's spelling of the 1963 edition (Selkhozizdat publishing house).

"Botanical Atlas" N.P. Zhivotovsky (1846–1888) is one of the famous books on the natural sciences in pre-revolutionary Russia. For almost twenty years, its author gave the Pedagogical Museum of St. Petersburg, published a variety of works on botany and natural sciences. Zhivotovsky studied at the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University, from which he graduated in 1868 and soon joined the main department of military educational institutions. In 1871, a permanent commission of the Pedagogical Museum was established.

Botanical atlas. Carl von Hoffmann. The flora of the Earth is so diverse that its full description would require an entire library. Illustrations for postcards are selected from the atlas, authored by the German botanist Carl von Hoffmann.