Forensic palynology
Encyclopedia
Forensic palynology is the study of pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

 and powdered mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...

s, their identification, and where and when they occur, to ascertain that a body or other object was in a certain place at a certain time.

Pollen can tell a lot about where a person or object has been, because regions of the world, or even more particular locations such a certain set of bushes, will have a distinctive collection of pollen species. Pollen evidence can also reveal the season in which a particular object picked up the pollen. Pollen has been used to trace activity at mass graves in Bosnia, catch a burglar who brushed against a Hypericum
Hypericum
Hypericum is a genus of about 400 species of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae ....

bush during a crime, and has even been proposed as an additive for bullets to enable tracking them.

For instance, a dead body may be found in a wood, and the clothes may contain pollen that was released after death (the time of death can be determined by forensic entomology
Forensic entomology
Forensic entomology is the application and study of insect and other arthropod biology to criminal matters. It is primarily associated with death investigations; however, it may also be used to detect drugs and poisons, determine the location of an incident, and find the presence and time of the...

), but in a place other than where it was found. That indicates that the body was moved.

Palynology

Palynology is the study of pollen, spores and other microscopic plant bodies such as dinoflagellates (marine algal cysts). Pollen carries the male sex cells of flowering plants and plants that produce cones (e.g. pine trees). Spores are asexual reproductive bodies of ferns, mosses and fungi.

Palynology is used by geologists to help date rocks for petroleum, mining and water exploration and to help unravel the history of plants on Earth; by geographers to investigate climatic and environmental change: by botanists for plant taxonomy and phylogeny; by immunologist to investigate allergenic pollen; by archaeologists to study the customs, rituals and agricultural practices of ancient peoples; by zoologists and environmental scientists to understand foraging habits of insects, birds and mammals and to investigate past native vegetation and habitats in order to preserve the present and protect endangered species.
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