How is pollen used in forensic science?
Traditionally, forensic palynology is done by examining pollen grains under a microscope and comparing them to known pollen morphology. This is a highly specialized skill, and there are few experts able to identify plant species based on the size, shape and color of the pollen grains.
How is pollen useful in a crime scene?
Pollen grains make excellent forensic tools for a number of reasons: they are morphologically distinct, resistant to damage and decay, produced in vast quantities, and found on almost every surface. A pollen grain is almost as useful as a fingerprint.
What country leads the world in using pollen in forensics?
As the only US federal agency with a forensic palynologist on staff, CBP is leading the US law enforcement community in using this new forensic tool for investigations and intelligence. Forensic palynology, not a widely known field, is defined as using pollen and spores to solve criminal or civil legal issues.
What are some common sources of pollen and spore evidence found at crime scenes?
Soil, dirt, and dust, common elements at almost every crime scene. What is included in hair/cloth samples? Woven cloth and ropes make good traps for pollen and spores.
What is palynology how it is used in solving crime?
Forensic palynology refers to the use of pollen and other spores when it is used as evidence in legal cases to resolve criminal issues by proving or disproving relationships between people and crime scenes.
What palynology means?
Palynology is literally the “study of dust” (from Greek: παλύνω, translit. palunō, “strew, sprinkle” and -logy) or of “particles that are strewn”. A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits including sediments of any age.
What is Palynotaxonomy?
Palynotaxonomy: Palynotaxonomy is the study of spore morphology of embryophytic plants and pollen morphology of seed plants. Erdtman and many palynologists all over the world made available pollen descriptions of all angiosperm families including most of the genera and species to taxonomists.
Who is the father of palynology?
Nair is often referred to as the ‘Father of Indian Palynology’ (study of pollen grains). Nair founded ERRC in Thiruvananthapuram in 1991, which is a platform for research and development in tropical biology, ecology and sustainable development.
What is Sporopollenin composed of?
Sporopollenin is highly cross-linked polymer composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that is extraordinarily stable and has been found chemically intact in sedimentary rocks some 500 million years old.
What is Eurypalynous?
Eurypalynous: The taxon in which the types of pollen may vary considerably in size, aperture, stratification of exine, etc., are termed eurypalynous or multipalynous e.g., Acanthaceae, Rubiaceae, Verbenaceae. Eurypalynous taxa are heterogeneous, at least in certain instances.
Why is palynology important?
Such microfossils are thus useful in determining geologic age and are especially important in sediments devoid of large fossils. Palynology is also invaluable to evolutionary and taxonomic research and can help to delineate phylogenetic relationships between fossilized and extant plants.
How is cytology useful in taxonomy?
⏩Cytology has made an important contribution to taxonomy during last few decades. .. Improvement in the cytological techniques permit chromosomal studies . ♒Chromosome numbers are mainly determined at mitosis and quoted as the diploid number (2n). Another important taxonomic character is the position of the centromere.
What is the significance of herbarium?
The herbarium is a storehouse of plant materials with valuable data mentioned on their labels. The material in the herbarium remains as permanent record of flora of those regions even the natural topography and the vegetation have changed or extinct. In these the herbarium provide evidence of what once existed.
What is herbarium and its function?
A herbarium is a preserved reference collection of plants and is vital to many different areas of science. Some of the TCD Herbarium’s main functions are to: certify that a plant name is correct (by providing a vital reference collection of authenticated material.
What is the basis of Cytotaxonomy?
Cytotaxonomy is a branch of taxonomy in which phylogenetic relationship can be determined between organism on the basis of information about the cell, chromosome number, structure and behaviour of the chromosome during meiosis.
What are examples of Cytotaxonomy?
Cytotaxonomy is a biology dealing with the classification and relationships of organisms using detail studies of chromosomes. The properties (number, structure, and behaviour) of chromosomes are of great value in taxonomy, because the chromosome number being the most widely used and quoted character in biology.
What is not included in Cytotaxonomy?
Cytotaxonomy is the classification of biological materials based upon cytological information of cell like its chromosome number, its behavior etc. While chemotaxonomy is the classification of biological materials based on chemical constituents of plants like DNA sequences etc.