Changes in soil pollen assemblages on footwear worn at different sites (original) (raw)
Related papers
Aerobiologia, 2019
In this work, we performed a palynological analysis of soil sampled from the footwear in order to provide their spatial and temporal classification. The sampling was performed in the shoes of 20 volunteers, in two different periods: autumn-winter and spring 2016/2017. The volunteers belonged to the same geographic region within a radius of 500 m. During the laboratorial treatment, the pollinic content present in the shoes sole was concentrated applying several treatments to destroy the exogenous material. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to verify whether it was possible to distinguish the samples based on their pollen assemblages. All the samples showed pollinic content, even when the shoes were apparently clean. The pollen types found were similar across the sampling period although with different pollen assemblages. In the winter samples, there was a prevalence of Fraxinus, Myrtaceae, Pinaceae (mostly Cedrus) and Poaceae pollen, while in the spring pollen of Olea, Poaceae, Pinaceae (namely Pinus) and Quercus was observed. Our results also demonstrated the discrimination between close sites (approximately 200 m), showing that the use of palynological analysis in footwear allows the collection of temporal and spatial information that can be used in forensic investigations.
Pollen in Forensic Palynology: An Exploration into a Crime Solving Tool
International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 2022
Palynology is the study of pollen grain and spores. The term forensic when inserted into the picture marks the usage of pollen into a crime-solving and suspect finding tool. Pollen grain has an outer layer made up of sporopollenin which gives high durability and resistance due to which pollen can survive at adverse and extreme conditions. The samples collected from the crime scene are analysed, studied and investigated along with the samples obtained from the suspects. A relation is derived which acts as evidence during the judicial custody. Pollen analysis is highly useful if a crime that has happened long back, and now needs to be opened up. Advancement of this technique in India is still awaited.
Forensic Palynology: How Pollen in Dry Grass Can Link to a Crime Scene
Soil in Criminal and Environmental Forensics, 2016
This chapter describes a homicide case of a baby and the forensic potential of pollen in dry grass. Dry grass is a good source for pollen. Pollen analysis gave a very characteristic pollen assemblage, dominated by grass pollen and a fungal spore. The dry grass in which the baby's corpse was embedded could be traced back to the crime scene. An accompanying investigation of various dry grass samples showed that each one had a unique pollen assemblage. This case reintroduced Forensic Palynology to Austria.
The use of soil palynomorphs in forensics
Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 2018
The aim was to establish the forensic value of using palynomorphs in soil samples to link people or objects to crime scenes in order to establish or strengthen an association. This was done by determining the degree to which pollen assemblages of surface soil samples differ within the same area. Samples within the same localized area (the control site) showed a high degree of similarity, suggesting that pollen assemblages of surface soil samples from within a localized area are homogeneous. Standard methods were used for the collection and analysis of soil samples such as deflocculation, acetolysis for removal of cellulose and organic matter and silicate removal method to achieve better visualization and identification of pollen types. The results indicated that the cast of footprints and palm prints provided evidence of a two way transfer of materials between the palms and feet and the soil of the grassy area. Pollen analysis of the soil that had adhered to the palms and feet showed that the perpetrator of the imprint had been standing in that grassy area. The analysis of the interface between the body parts (palms and feet) and soil is therefore a potentially lucrative source of information for forensic reconstruction. This analysis shows that pollen can be used to associate perpetrators to crime scenes and should be seen as a useful tool in the analysis of hitherto unrecognized forensic materials in forensic palynology.
The spatial and temporal distribution of pollen in a room: Forensic implications
Science & Justice, 2014
This paper presents two experimental studies that deal with the spatial and temporal distribution of pollen grains within a room of a domestic dwelling. The findings concur with the preliminary work of Morgan et al. [1] and provide greater detail as to the behaviour of pollen grains within indoor locations that are pertinent for forensic investigations. The spatial distribution of pollen in a room exhibits strong distance decay trends, with the majority of pollen recovered within 0.8 m of its source. The pollen was found to persist in increasing quantities during the time the flowers were in the room. This study also shows that 20 days after the flowers were removed, 25-32% of the original pollen was still present within the room. The influence of disturbance was investigated and whilst areas of high disturbance were found to retain less pollen than undisturbed locations, the influence of the proximity to source was a more dominant factor. These findings have significant implications for forensic investigation protocols, particularly the collection and interpretation phases of trace evidence analysis. The distribution of pollen around a room ensures that viable sources of trace pollen are available for transfer if contact is made between a location in the room and a suspect. The persistence of pollen many days after the flowers have been removed from a room indicates that many rooms in domestic dwellings will have distinctive assemblages that reflect the history of the flowers that have been displayed within that room in the past, and that these assemblages will persist and therefore be available for transfer. These preliminary findings indicate that investigation by forensic palynology in indoor domestic settings may well be an underutilised technique that has the potential to provide accurate and valuable intelligence and evidence for forensic enquiry.
Forensic Science International
The use of pollen as a forensic tool for geolocation is a well-established practice worldwide in cases ranging from the provenance of drugs and other illicit materials to tracking the travel of individuals in criminal investigations. Here we propose a novel approach to generation of pollen databases that uses pollen vacuumed from mammal pelts collected historically from international areas that are now deemed too high risk to visit. We present the results of a study we conducted using mammal pelts collected from Mexico. This new investigative technique is important because, although it would seem that the ubiquitous and geo-specific nature of pollen would make pollen analysis among the most promising forensic tools for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, it is not the case. The process is notoriously slow because pollen identification is a tedious task requiring trained specialists (palynologists) who are few in number worldwide, and the reference materials necessary for geolocation usually are rare or absent, especially from regions of the world that are no longer safe to visit because of war or threat of terrorism. Current forensic palynological work is carried out by a few highly trained palynologists who require accurate databases of pollen distribution, especially from sensitive areas, to do their jobs accurately and efficiently. Our project shows the suitability of using the untapped museum pelt resources to support homeland security programs. This first palynological study using museum pelts yielded 133 different pollen and spore types, including 8 moss or fern families, 12 gymnosperm genera and 112 angiosperm species. We show that the palynological print from each region is statistically different with some important clustering, demonstrating the potential to use this technique for geolocation.