Diffusion Coefficient of Paramecium as a Function of Temperature1

The motion of Paramecium caudatum has been investigated at various temperatures by measuring the transient behavior of spatial distribution in the diffusion process of organisms that, by electric stimulus, are initially gathered at a single place in the glass culture cell. The spatial distribution through the course of diffusion has a nearly Gaussian profile. Dispersion was obtained at 1 sec intervals and increased linearly with time. The time dependence of the dispersion gave a diffusion coefficient for the random motion of the organisms. The results show that the diffusion coefficient has a maximum at the temperature at which the paramecia were cultivated.