Jorgen Hoyer

Abstract An exceptional feature of most animals is their ability to perceive diverse sensory cues from the environment and integrate this information in their brain to yield ethologically relevant behavioral output. For the myriad of marine species, the ocean represents a complex sensory environment, which acts as a crucible of evolution for polymodal sensory perception. The cellular and molecular bases of polymodal sensory perception in a marine environment remain enigmatic.

Highlights • Long- and short-range chemical cues influence larval attachment and metamorphosis • Ciona larvae use polymodal sensory cells to sense mechanical and chemical cues • Individual sensory neurons can encode stimulus-specific information • Brain dynamics act as a framework for stimulus-driven behavioral action choice Summary The Earth’s oceans brim with an incredible diversity of microscopic lifeforms, including motile planktonic larvae, whose survival critically depends on effective...

New Results doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.03.547492 Abstract The Earth's oceans brim with an incredible diversity of microscopic planktonic animals, many of which correspond to the transient larval stage in the life cycles of benthic marine organisms.