The objective of the present work was to study the species composition of necrophilic dipterans and their participation in corpse decomposition. The material for the study was collected from the swine corpses weighing from 50 to 70 kg and from the dead human bodies in Karelia during the period from 2014 to 2015. It was shown that 8 dipteran species belonging to 5 families contribute to corpse decomposition in the European part of Russia. They are dominated by Protophormia terraenovae and Calliphora vicina. The quantitative composition of the necrophilic dipterans developing in human and animal corpses differ depending on the local environmental conditions.

No abstract

No abstract

The objective of the present study was to characterize the specific features of corpse putrification under the influence of necrobiome enzymatic systems depending on the duration of the post-mortem period. We present the results of investigations into the enzymatic activity of the dominant species of microorganisms making up the post-mortem microbiome. The domestic pork carcasses weighing 50-70 kg were used as an experimental putrification model. The study revealed the characteristic features of protein decomposition under the influence of proteolytic enzymes of pseudomonads, bacilli, and clostridia, such as alteration in the amount of necrobionts producing proteases in the entire carcass and its fragments during biodegradation in the air over 30 and 136 days of the post-mortem period. A series of experiments designed to evaluate the effectiveness of protein hydrolysis by necrobionts have demonstrated the dependence of the rate of biodegradation on the environmental temperature, duration of the putrification pocess, and the species composition of the necrobiome.

The objective of the present work was to study dynamics of the temperature of a corpse of an experimental animal (a pig) between the moment of death till complete skeletization, The porcine corpse weighing approximately 100 kg was placed in the bilberry spruce forest in the southern part of the Karelian Republic. Variations in the temperature of the corpse were measured with the use of the EClrerk-USB-2Pt logger (an autonomous register of temperature) along with those of the environmental (the air and the soil) temperature during 86 days in the period from June till September. It was shown that the temperature of the corpse first decreased but began to increase thereafter due to the enhancement of the biological activity of microorganisms. It is concluded that putrefactive decomposition of the corpse does not always suggest the necessity to discontinue the measurement of its temperature. The forensic medical examination of a corrupted corpse should take into consideration the possibility of an increase of its temperature in the course of time because it may be a source of a mistake when estimating prescription of death coming. The problem of postmortem rise in the temperature of a corpse undergoing putrefactive decomposition needs a thorough theoretical interpretation with a view to promoting the practical application of the proposed method with due regard for the difference in the environmental conditions in various climatographical regions of the Russian Federation.