The Importance of Palynology in Forensic Investigations

Palynology is the scientific discipline concerned with the study of plant pollen, spores, and certain microscopic planktonic organisms, by this way diatom, in both living and fossil form [1]. This field is associated with the plant sciences as well as with the geologic sciences, notably those aspects dealing with stratigraphy, historical geology, study of organic microfossils (palynomorphs) extracted from ancient coals, paleontology and archaeology. Palynology is extremely broad showing applications in the whole botany as well as in science related with them, but also found high interest in the forensic discipline and in a crime scene investigation. In a real forensic case, look for pollen and spore can be very significant and conclusive; these particles, because passing naked to the human eyes and, at the same time, that they are very common in the environmental, helped to solve a crime investigation. In this way, thanks to its durability to the pass of time, pollen can be extremely valuable to determine some forgotten data or evidence not considered before in a crime. For this reason, it can be very helpful to open up different new information in search of the truthfulness in a specific investigation or to link objects and person implicated in the fact crime, inside the crime scene or out, including many times after the event was committed.