David O. Carter – författare

Forensic Microbiology focuses on newly emerging areas of microbiology relevant to medicolegal and criminal investigations: postmortem changes, establishing cause of death, estimating postmortem interval, and trace evidence analysis. Recent developments in sequencing technology allow researchers, and potentially practitioners, to examine microbial communities at unprecedented resolution and in multidisciplinary contexts. This detailed study of microbes facilitates the development of new forensic tools that use the structure and function of microbial communities as physical evidence.  Chapters cover: Experiment designData analysisSample preservationThe influence of microbes on results from autopsy, toxicology, and histologyDecomposition ecologyTrace evidenceThis diverse, rapidly evolving field of study has the potential to provide high quality microbial evidence which can be replicated across laboratories, providing spatial and temporal evidence which could be crucial in a broad range of investigative contexts.  This book is intended as a resource for students, microbiologists, investigators, pathologists, and other forensic science professionals.

A burial environment is a complex and dynamic system. It plays host to an abundance of interdependent chemical, physical, and biological processes, which are greatly influenced by the inclusion of a body and its subsequent decay. However, while taphonomy continues to emerge as a valuable forensic tool, until now most of the attention has been on the cadaver rather than the grave itself.Soil Analysis in Forensic Taphonomy: Chemical and Biological Effects of Buried Human Remains is the first book to concentrate entirely on the telling impact of soil and its components on the postmortem fate of human remains. Examining the basic physicochemical composition of the soil as it relates to forensic science and taphonomy, leading experts from across the world—· Offer an introduction to the nature, distribution, and origin of soil materials in forensic comparisons · Discuss the action of biological soil components, including invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria · Address rates and processes of decomposition and time of death estimates · Detail methods for characterizing and fingerprinting soils · Provide extensive information on the decomposition of hair Edited by Mark Tibbett, a soil microbiologist and David Carter, a forensic scientist, this unique resourceprovides an up-to-date overview of fundamental scientific principles and methods used in forensic taphonomy from a soils-based perspective. It provides an understanding of the processes at work, as well as practical methods and advice for those involved with active investigation.