Applying the principles of isotope analysis in plant and animal ecology to forensic science in the Americas.

Autor: Chesson LA; IsoForensics, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA. Lesley.Chesson@pae.com.; PAE, contractor at Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) - Laboratory, Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickham, HI, 96853, USA. Lesley.Chesson@pae.com., Barnette JE; IsoForensics, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA., Bowen GJ; Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA., Brooks JR; Western Ecology Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR, 97333, USA., Casale JF; U.S. Department of Justice, DEA Special Testing and Research Laboratory, Dulles, VA, 20166, USA., Cerling TE; IsoForensics, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA.; Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.; Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA., Cook CS; Stable Isotope Facility, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA., Douthitt CB; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Safford, AZ, 85546, USA., Howa JD; IsoForensics, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA., Hurley JM; Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA., Kreuzer HW; Chemical and Biological Signature Sciences, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99352, USA., Lott MJ; IsoForensics, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA., Martinelli LA; Laboratório Ecologia Isotópica, Cena-University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil., O'Grady SP; Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA., Podlesak DW; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA., Tipple BJ; Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA., Valenzuela LO; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva Humana, Sede Quequén-Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina., West JB; Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77845, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Oecologia [Oecologia] 2018 Aug; Vol. 187 (4), pp. 1077-1094. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Jun 28.
DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4188-1
Abstrakt: The heart of forensic science is application of the scientific method and analytical approaches to answer questions central to solving a crime: Who, What, When, Where, and How. Forensic practitioners use fundamentals of chemistry and physics to examine evidence and infer its origin. In this regard, ecological researchers have had a significant impact on forensic science through the development and application of a specialized measurement technique-isotope analysis-for examining evidence. Here, we review the utility of isotope analysis in forensic settings from an ecological perspective, concentrating on work from the Americas completed within the last three decades. Our primary focus is on combining plant and animal physiological models with isotope analyses for source inference. Examples of the forensic application of isotopes-including stable isotopes, radiogenic isotopes, and radioisotopes-span from cotton used in counterfeit bills to anthrax shipped through the U.S. Postal Service and from beer adulterated with cheap adjuncts to human remains discovered in shallow graves. Recent methodological developments and the generation of isotope landscapes, or isoscapes, for data interpretation promise that isotope analysis will be a useful tool in ecological and forensic studies for decades to come.
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: