Georeferenced soil provenancing with digital signatures

Tighe, Matthew; Forster, Nicola; Guppy, Christopher N.; Savage, Devin; Grave, Peter; Young, Iain M.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-21530-7

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…For comparison, Denmark extends c. 300 km from east to west. Recently, spectral analysis–another discipline of forensic geoscience–was shown to successfully predict geographic origin at local scales in a cultural landscape [11]. It is possible that eDNA also will perform better at predicting local scale provenance within a specific urban landscape, which may be characterized by novel communities and introduced species [42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an investigative process, where for example the crime scene is unknown, soil trace evidence can also give valuable information on geographic origin or provenance and help narrow the search for a location. However, inorganic soil properties tend to vary at regional scales, which limits the precision of soil sample provenance [10], but recent digital signatures from x-ray fluorescence have demonstrated a potential for high precision prediction accuracy for local scale soil provenance [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predicting provenance of forensic soil samples: Linking soil to ecological habitats by metabarcoding and supervised classification

et al. 2019

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Environmental DNA (eDNA) is increasingly applied in ecological studies, including studies with the primary purpose of criminal investigation, in which eDNA from soil can be used to pair samples or reveal sample provenance. We collected soil eDNA samples as part of a large national biodiversity research project across 130 sites in Denmark. We investigated the potential for soil eDNA metabarcoding in predicting provenance in terms of environmental conditions, habitat type and geographic regions. We used linear regression for predicting environmental gradients of light, soil moisture, pH and nutrient status (represented by Ellenberg Indicator Values, EIVs) and Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) to predict habitat type and geographic region. eDNA data performed relatively well as a predictor of environmental gradients (R 2 > 0.81). Its ability to discriminate between habitat types was variable, with high accuracy for certain forest types and low accuracy for heathland, which was poorly predicted. Geographic region was also less accurately predicted by eDNA. We demonstrated the application of provenance prediction in forensic science by evaluating and discussing two mock crime scenes. Here, we listed the plant species from annotated sequences, which can further aid in identifying the likely habitat or, in case of rare species, a geographic region. Predictions of environmental gradients and habitat types together give an overall accurate description of a crime scene, but care should be taken when interpreting annotated sequences, e.g. due to erroneous assignments in GenBank. Our approach demonstrates that important habitat properties can be derived from soil eDNA, and exemplifies a range of potential applications of eDNA in forensic ecology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting provenance of forensic soil samples: Linking soil to ecological habitats by metabarcoding and supervised classification

et al. 2019

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show abstract

“…For comparison, Denmark extends c. 300 km from east to west. Recently, spectral analysis, another discipline of forensic geoscience, was shown to successfully predict geographic origin at local scales in a cultural landscape (11). It is possible that eDNA also will perform better at predicting local scale provenance within a specific urban landscape, which may be characterized by novel communities and introduced species (43).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an investigative process, where for example the crime scene is unknown, soil trace evidence can also give valuable information on geographic origin or provenance and help narrowing a search. However, inorganic soil properties tend to vary at regional scales, which limits the precision of soil sample provenance (10), but recent digital signatures from x-ray fluorescence have demonstrated a potential for high precision prediction accuracy for local scale soil provenance (11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting provenance of forensic soil samples: soil DNA predicts habitat and environmental properties

Fløjgaard

Frøslev

Brunbjerg

et al. 2018

Preprint

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AbstractEnvironmental DNA is increasingly applied in ecological studies, including forensic ecology where eDNA from soil can be used to pair samples or reveal sample provenance. We collected soil eDNA samples as part of a large national biodiversity research project across 130 sites in Denmark. We investigated the potential for soil eDNA in predicting provenance in terms of environmental conditions, habitat characteristics and geographic regions. We used linear regression for predicting environmental gradients of light, moisture, soil pH and nutrients (represented by Ellenberg Indicator Values, EIVs) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) to predict habitat class and geographic region. We found high predictive power for environmental gradients (R2 > 0.73). The discriminatory power of QDA in predicting habitat characteristics varied from high accuracy in predicting certain forest types, less accurate prediction of heathland and poor accuracy for geographic region. We demonstrate the application of provenance prediction in forensic science by evaluating and discussing two mock crime scenes. Here, we supplement with plant species lists from annotated sequences. Where predictions of environmental gradients and habitat classes give an overall accurate description of a crime scene, care should be taken when interpreting annotated sequences, e.g. due to erroneous assignments in GenBank. The outlined approach clearly demonstrates that basic ecological information that can be extracted from soil eDNA, contributing to the range of potential applications of eDNA in forensic ecology.

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“…Cinzas e materiais relacionados, como artefatos, fragmentos metálicos e de ossos encontrados em cenas de crime, podem ser a chave para elucidar investigações criminais. A implementação de diferentes técnicas analíticas para diferenciar materiais ósseos dos não ósseos constitui-se uma das principais tarefas no âmbito criminal, uma vez que a utilização do método correto de análise depende de muitos fatores, entre eles o tipo de material a ser analisado, condição e quantidade da amostra, o tempo de obtenção da amostra, bem como o custo-benefício e a disponibilidade dos equipamentos necessários para a realização da análise (MOHAMED et al, 2017;TIGHE et al, 2018;MELO et al, 2019;TESTONI et al, 2019;TESTONI et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Análise De Fragmentos Carbonizados De Um Caso De Homicídio Em Dom Feliciano, Rio Grande Do Sul

Testoni,

Echeverria Oliveira,

Ribeiro Duarte

et al. 2023

Ifes Ciência

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Cinzas e materiais relacionados, como artefatos, fragmentos metálicos e ossos encontrados em cenas de crime, podem constituir importantes evidências para elucidar investigações criminais. Quando submetidos a diversas análises, estes materiais podem fornecer uma associação entre uma pessoa ou um objeto a uma cena de crime. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar fragmentos sólidos encontrados nas cinzas recuperadas de uma cena de crime ocorrida no município de Dom Feliciano, Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Sul do Brasil. A espectroscopia de raios-X por energia dispersiva (EDX) e a microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) foram realizadas para avaliar as composições químicas dos fragmentos sólidos presentes nas cinzas e para investigar a morfologia daqueles mais similares à fragmentos ósseos, a fim obter um corpo de prova em um caso de homicídio. Os resultados revelaram que a composição semi-quantitativa elementar dos fragmentos sólidos foi correlacionada com sucesso com materiais ósseos, contendo P e Ca como elementos principais. Posteriormente, foi possível associar os fragmentos ósseos com o corpo humano, com base nos detalhes morfológicos obtidos por MEV, principalmente devido ao diâmetro dos canais de Haver, os quais tendem a ser maiores em comparação aos mesmos canais encontrados em outros mamíferos. Portanto, as análises de EDX e MEV permitiram uma descrição robusta do material estudado por meio de inferências detalhadas e claras sobre sua origem, permitindo elucidar os eventos ligados ao caso de homicídio, e criando assim, um corpo de prova no caso criminal.

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Georeferenced soil provenancing with digital signatures

Cited by 16 publications

References 35 publications

Predicting provenance of forensic soil samples: Linking soil to ecological habitats by metabarcoding and supervised classification

Predicting provenance of forensic soil samples: Linking soil to ecological habitats by metabarcoding and supervised classification

Predicting provenance of forensic soil samples: soil DNA predicts habitat and environmental properties

Análise De Fragmentos Carbonizados De Um Caso De Homicídio Em Dom Feliciano, Rio Grande Do Sul

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