I've been meaning to back to this, apologies for the delay. If a bacteria senses a change, say in salinity, and moves away, can we say the bacteria is / was aw

I've been meaning to back to this, apologies for the delay. If a bacteria senses a change, say in salinity, and moves away, can we say the bacteria is / was aware of the change. What does awareness mean. It sounds at least as slippery as conscious.