In honour of Professor Ali Demirsoy

This special issue of Hacettepe Journal of Biology and Chemistry is dedicated to Prof.Dr. Ali Demirsoy on the occasion of his retirement in February 2012. It honours the many and outstanding contributions of Ali Demirsoy covering a wide range of topics. 

In this study 34 species of Rotifera, 9 species of Cladocera and 1 species of Copepoda have been observed during the study between May 2007-May 2008 from Kızılırmak River, Delice, Kılıçözü, Malaközü and Budaközü Streams in the Kızılırmak River Basin in Turkey. During the study Brachionus, Lecane, Cephalodella belongs to Rotifera; Bosmina longirostris and Cydorus sphaericus belongs to Cladocera and Eucyclops serrulatus belong to Copepoda were the commonest genera and species. Also Asplanchna priodonta, Brachionus quadridentatus, Brachionus calyciflorus, Euchlanis dilatata and Synchaeta pectinata were the annual species. 

In this study, Orthoptera fauna of Kemaliye (Erzincan) was investigated. In Kemaliye, 91 species/subspecies belonging to 52 genera within 9 families were confirmed to occur. Of these species, 11 species of Tettigoniidae, 1 species of Raphidophoridae, 4 species of Pamphagidae, 5 species of Acrididae are endemic to Anatolia. 

In order to investigate the species composition of the heterotrophic flagellate communities in freshwater locations in Turkey, we carried out this pilot study at Beytepe Pond from May 2004 to May 2005. Water samples were taken from four stations determined according to ecological differences with sampling bottles. Species observed alive using a Leica DMR microscope equipped with a digital camera Leica DFC 280. As a result, 13 species were identified. Of this 13 species 9 identified to species level, 4 identified to genus level . Of the 13 species, 12 of them are new to Turkey freshwater algae, but with 1 species, having been reported from pyhtoplankton studies of Turkey Freshwaters. 

In this study, the differentiation of Salamandra infraimmaculata populations of Turkey had been investigated by means of morphometry, karyology and reproductive organs histology. Salamandra infraimmaculata specimens were collected from Erzincan, Malatya, Hatay and Mersin provinces. According to the results of morphometric measurements, while the Malatya and Mersin populations are related, Erzincan and Hatay populations are distinct from the others. The karyotypes and histological structures of the reproductive organs did not have any differences among the provinces. 

The members of the Cynipidae (Hymenoptera) family, also known as the gallwasps, induce some of the most structurally complex plant galls. In this study, we have examined the gallwasps and their galls collected from Kemaliye (Erzincan, Turkey) and its surrounding. At the end of the study, 24 species which belong to 5 genera were determined. Moreover, Andricus moreae was found to be a new record for Turkey. 

Fossil elephants are a favourite subject of study on patterns and process of evolution. They also have importance as a guide fossil in Quaternary studies. After their emergence in Africa at the Miocene-Pliocene boundry, Elephas and Mammuthus migrated into Eurasia. And as Turkey is at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe, it occupies an important position for the migration of elephantids. Until now Mammuthus meridionalis, M. trogontherii and Elephas maximus were identified from Turkey. Some M. meridionalis remains have some primitive features compared to typical meridionalis which might be important in the evolution of the species. M. trogontherii remains from Dursunlu have strange features that some have features of typical trogontherii, but some have primitive features evoking meridionalis. E. maximus was identified from Gavur Lake Swamp. New radiocarbon dates indicate that at approximately 3500 BP, the range of the Asian elephant extended as far west as south-east of Turkey. 

Infanticide has been observed in numerous animal species, including rats. The present study was carried out to investigate the behavioral effects of 4-tert-Octylphenol (OP) exposure at fetal period on male and female rat offsprings. Pregnant rats were treated with OP (100 or 250 mg/kg/day) in vehicle (corn oil) or vehicle alone daily from day 1 to day 20 of pregnancy. After birth, infanticidal behavior was observed in 100 mg/kg/ day (OP100) and 250 mg/kg/day treatment group (OP250). 47% of live offspring were killed and consumed in OP100 and 53% of live offspring were killed and consumed in OP250. The results of this study suggest that, the octylphenol which was applied in fetal period causes negative effects on the rats.