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Tropism - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Aptitude, Bent, Bias, Cast, Inclination, Liability, Liking, Predisposition, Prejudice, Probability, Propensity |
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In Biology, a tropism is movement in an organism in response to some environmental stimulus. The word tropism comes from the Greek trope for turn. The term is often utilised, especially by hackers, in a slightly less specifically biological fashion, i.e.: "Hackers display a fairly high tropism for certain other hobbies, like reading science fiction."
Tropisms typically consist of three phases
- Perception -- detection of the stimulus
- Transduction -- conversion and interpretation of stimulus (signal transduction)
- Response -- the final response to the stimulus
Examples include
- Gravitropism or Geotropism - movement in response to gravity
- Hydrotropism - movement in response to water
- Thigmotropism - movement in response to touch/contact
- Thermotropism - movement in response to heat
- Phototropism - movement in response to light
- Skototropism - inverse movement in response to light (negative phototropism)
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Example Usage of Tropism |
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gyrovague: @evanoneil Tropical last trip, a century in the tropics. Doubtless mental Tropism.
I'm thinking about Amazonia. Myths to be discovered again |
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o_principal: It's an academic Tropism those american researchers who saw democratic federation as the only end to the future of Europe #sociotweets |
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cslsscience: Mrs. J's fifth grade class learned about the chemistry of photosynthesis, the four types of Tropism, and cell respiration. They did a review |
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