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Diel vertical migration (DVM) bioassay-guided Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can be a prominent non-destructive and innovative approach for ecological studies. During the characterization of the nature of the fish-exuded kairomone, the peak area results from the spectroscopic analysis of the control, fish-conditioned (F) and temperature incubated fish-conditioned (IF) treatments of the DVM bioassays demonstrated that there was a strong correlation between the alterations of the amine N-H, amide II, amide IV and CH 3 asymmetric vibrations, suggesting that both N-H and CH 3 molecules may be main components of the fish-exuded kairomone cocktail. The IF treatment, which showed similar results with the control treatment, supported that the kairomone is inactivated by bacterial biodegradation. The seasonal variations in the peak areas of the N-H and CH 3 bands suggested that DVM response varied seasonally, where migration response developed quickly in warmer seasons. The peak area of the amine N-H band of the F and IF treatments relative to control conditions can be used as an ideal indicator of the absence or presence and the promptness of migration, at all seasons.

Global warming is already causing salinization of freshwater ecosystems located in semi-arid regions, including Turkey. Daphnids, which are important grazers on phytoplankton and a major food source for fish and invertebrates, are sensitive to not only changes in salinity levels, but also presence of predators. In this study, the interactive effect of salinity toxicity (abiotic factor) with predation pressure mimicked by the fish-exuded kairomone (biotic factor) and the effect of salt acclimation on daphnids were investigated. Impacts of these stressors on daphnid survival, life history and molecular profile were observed. The presence of the kairomone antagonistically alters the effect of salinity, as observed from the 24- and 48-h LC(50) values and survival results. Molecular findings provided solid evidence to this antagonism at even lower salt concentrations, for which antagonism was not evident with organismal data. Fish predation counterbalances the negative effect of salinity in terms of reserve energy density. Therefore, it is important to investigate multiple stressor effects in ecotoxicological bioassays complemented with molecular techniques. The single effect of increasing salinity resulted in increased mortality, decreased fecundity, and slower somatic growth in Daphnia, despite their acclimation to salinity. This insignificance of acclimation indicates that Daphnia do not have any physiological mechanisms to buffer the adverse effects of salinity, making it a very crucial factor. Salinity-induced reduction in population growth rate of freshwater keystone species Daphnia-despite acclimation-indicates that global warming-induced salinity may cascade through the food web and lead to dramatic environmental consequences in the structure of lake ecosystems.

Humans can be exposed to ionizing radiation, due to various reasons, whose structural effects on biological membranes are not well defined. The current study aims to understand the ionizing radiation-induced structural and functional alterations in biomolecules of brain membranes using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy using rat animal models. For this purpose, 1000 cGy of ionizing radiation was specifically directed to the head of Sprague Dawley rats. The rats were decapitated after 24 h. The results revealed that the lipid-to-protein ratio decreased and that irradiation caused lipid peroxidation and increases in the amounts of olefinic =CH, carbonyl, and methylene groups of lipids. In addition, ionizing radiation induced a decrease in membrane fluidity, disordering of membrane lipids, strengthening of the hydrogen bonding of the phosphate groups of lipid head-groups, and weakening in the hydrogen bonding of the interfacial carbonyl groups of lipids. Radiation further caused significant decrements in the α-helix and turns, and significant increments in the β-sheet and random coil contents in the protein structure. Hierarchical cluster analyses, performed in the whole region (3030-1000 cm(-1)), lipid (3030-2800 cm(-1)), and protein (1700-1600 cm(-1)) regions separately, successfully differentiated the control and irradiated groups of rat brain membranes and showed that proteins in the membranes are affected more than lipids from the damages induced with ionizing radiation. As a result, the current study showed that FT-IR spectroscopy can be used successfully as a novel method to monitor radiation-induced alterations on biological membranes.