Abstract
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.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to dedicate this manuscript to Dr. James Ehleringer. His vision of how isotope analysis of ecological material could inform forensic science guided much of the work reported here. This manuscript has benefited from comments by Dr. Glen Jackson (West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA), two anonymous reviewers, and Editor Russell K. Monson.
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LAC wrote the manuscript, with assistance from JRB, JDH, BJT, LOV, and JBW, who also provided access to published data sets. JEB, GJB, JFC, TEC, CSC, CBD, JMH, HWK, MJL, LAM, SPO, and DWP provided access to additional published data sets and supplied editorial feedback.
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MJL is a shareholder of IsoForensics, Inc. LAC, JDH, and MJL are members of the Forensic Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry Network (FIRMS).
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This article does not present any new research with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors; works reviewed here may have involved human participants or animals.
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Communicated by Todd E. Dawson.
Janet E. Barnette, Janet M. Hurley, and Shannon P. O’Grady are currently working outside the area of isotope analysis/research; affiliation at the time of collaboration provided.
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Chesson, L.A., Barnette, J.E., Bowen, G.J. et al. Applying the principles of isotope analysis in plant and animal ecology to forensic science in the Americas. Oecologia 187, 1077–1094 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4188-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4188-1