How 5000 independent rowers coordinate their strokes in order to row into the sunlight: Phototaxis in the multicellular green alga Volvox

Table 1 Reduced efficiency of the phototactic movements after a longer dark period

Period of Darkness Before Illumination (min)	Spheroids in Area 1* (%)	SD (%)
0	100	2.5
0-10	97.3	3.1
10-20	86.5	8.7
20-30	87.7	3.3
30-40	84.5	1.3
40-50	81.5	4.1
50-60	67.2	11.7
60-70	65.2	6.1
70-80	63.8	11.1
80-90	61.9	13.6

*The duration of the photoaccumulation assay was 30 s (n = 3 for each time period). The number of light-adapted spheroids accumulated in area 1 (setup B, Figure 3b) was set to 100%. These light-adapted spheroids correspond to 0 min in the dark. The light intensity during both the light adaptation and the photoaccumulation assay was 2.08 μmol m^-2 s^-1.

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