Modeling of Microscale Transport in Biological Processes

Chapter 7

Microorganisms and Their Response to Stimuli

R.J. Clarke¹    Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand¹Chapter coordinator.

Abstract

Microorganisms have developed a unique set of strategies for overcoming the challenges posed by the need to navigate through their microscopic fluid environments. They have also developed morphologies that exploit the ambient forces in their surroundings, in order to orient themselves towards a desirable destination. In their tactics we can witness rudimentary forms of the types of sensing methods used by much larger organisms. In this chapter we shall firstly discuss what constitutes a desirable destination for different types of microorganisms, before describing ...