Overview
- Researchers published the review in Forensic Sciences Research, compiling documented instances where bryophytes contributed to investigations.
- They surveyed 150 years of literature and found the earliest case in 1929, plus at least ten more across Finland, Sweden, Italy, China, and the United States.
- The authors detail how bryophytes’ fine-scale habitat preferences and associated micro-organisms can link tiny plant fragments to specific locations or conditions.
- In a 2011 Michigan homicide, analysis of plant material on a suspect’s shoes guided a 2013 survey that narrowed the search to about 50 square feet, which the father later confirmed in a police interview, though the body has not been recovered.
- The team calls bryophytes an underused evidence source and urges law enforcement to recognize and collect small botanical fragments more routinely.