Ethological dynamics in diorama environments

Neurological bases for marine debris-evoked phototactic reversal in aquatic planktons and its impact on the ocean ecosystem

Principal
investigator

Noritaka HirohashiShimane Univ. Life Sciences

All living creatures on the planet Earth are under directional constraint to move or to act along the solar vector, which paradoxically enables them, as individuals or as a group, to navigate to new niches for their prospects. Phototaxis is of such a kind that Tree of Life has never forgotten the consistency of this trait to pass on next generations seamlessly even speciation had occurred. Reversal of phototaxis has long been attracted people and is deeply involved in the world-largest biomass movements underwater. We found that plastic-associated wastes in the oceans and on the coasts contain chemicals that evoke marine planktons’ phototactic response inverse. In this project, we resolve molecular dynamics and mechanism underlying pollution-triggered phototactic reversal in marine zooplanktons and estimate its impact on ocean environments in the realm of diorama ecosystem.