Basic principles of stable isotope analysis in humanitarian forensic science

Chesson, Lesley A.; Meier‐Augenstein, Wolfram; Berg, Gregory E.; Bataille, Clément P.; Bartelink, Eric J.; Richards, Michael P.

doi:10.1002/9781119482062.ch20

Cited by 19 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 149 publications

(279 reference statements)

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“…Westernization and globalization tend to relate to increased consumption of foods containing corn [2,4]. Corn, a C4 plant, relates to high δ 13 C values [56,57]. Consequently, consuming corn-fed animals also increases the δ 13 C values in human hair.…”

Section: Spatial Distributions Of C N and S Isotopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary homogenization and spatial distributions of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope ratios in human hair in South Korea

et al. 2021

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Dietary homogenization has progressed worldwide due to westernization and the globalization of food production systems. We investigated dietary heterogeneity in South Korea by examining the spatial distribution of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) isotope ratios using 264 human hair samples. Overall, variation in isotope values was small, indicating low dietary heterogeneity. We detected differences in δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S values between administrative provinces and metropolitan cities; inter-regional differences were typically < 1 ‰. Values of δ34S were significantly lower in hair samples from inland regions relative to those from coastal locations, and a similar pattern was observed in δ15N values. Understanding geographic variation in δ34S and δ15N values in human hair is useful for provenancing humans in South Korea.

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Section: Spatial Distributions Of C N and S Isotopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary homogenization and spatial distributions of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope ratios in human hair in South Korea

et al. 2021

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“…The isotopic values of different elements (e.g., hydrogen, oxygen, and strontium) in foods and water vary geographically (Ehleringer et al, 2008;Bowen, 2010;Bataille and Bowen, 2012;Chesson et al, 2012). Such variation can be integrated into human and animal tissues, from which the isotopic values may be used to identify their regions of origin (West et al, 2010;Valenzuela et al, 2011;Hobson et al, 2012;Chesson et al, 2020). Some keratinous tissues, like hair and nail, preserve the regional isotopic values in time sequence, and may thus be used to reconstruct the travel history of individuals (Fraser et al, 2006;O'Brien and Wooller, 2007;Hobson et al, 2010;Remien et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Strontium isotope analysis is an emerging tool to identify the regions of origin of biological samples in archeology, paleoecology, and forensics (Font et al, 2012;Frei et al, 2015;Vautour et al, 2015;Chau et al, 2017;Chesson et al, 2020). It has the advantage of no detectable isotopic fractionation (of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios) during biological processes, comparing to the light elements like carbon and oxygen (Bentley, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, unlike major elements that can mostly ignore contamination influence in their isotopic profiles in hair, strontium in hair can be easily contaminated, which will alter its 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (Hu et al, 2020). The co-existent endogenous and exogenous Sr in hair thus make the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr profile in hair complicated to interpret (Chesson et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the Reliability of Mobility Interpretation From a Multi-Isotope Hair Profile on a Traveling Individual

Chartrand

St-Jean

et al. 2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Forensic practitioners, archeologists, and ecologists increasingly use hair isotope profiles and isotope databases and maps to reconstruct the life history of unidentified individuals. Relationships between hair isotope profiles with travel history have been primarily investigated through controlled laboratory experiments. However, those controlled studies do not reflect the complex life history of modern individuals who often travel between multiple locations over different periods. Here, we collect one bundle of hairs from a volunteer whose primary residence is in Ottawa (Canada) but who traveled to multiple destinations over a period of 18 months. Those travels include multi-week trips to distant locations and multi-day trips to more local areas. We use multi-isotope profiles on the individual's hairs coupled with isotope databases across the world to reconstruct travel history at sub-monthly temporal resolution. We compare the isotopic interpretation of mobility with the recorded travel history. A prominent shift in δ 2 H values is interpreted as a westward movement toward central Canada, which corresponds to a month-long road-trip to the Prairie. We observed a marked negative excursion in δ 13 C values along the hairs profile, which was related to a multi-week-long trip to several countries in Europe. Except for an exceptionally variable interval likely driven by health issues, δ 15 N values show very little fluctuation across the entire profile, indicating consumption of consistent amounts of animal or marine-based protein at different locations. The isotopic shifts in the proximal part of the hair reveal a clearer picture of traveling destinations than the shifts in the distal part, which have larger uncertainty in terms of timing and amplitude. Except for the last couple of months before collection, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios show little variation throughout the profile likely due to recent exchange with Ottawa tap water during bathing or showering. The different 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the month preceding collection appear to partially preserve the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of the volunteer's diet. This study demonstrates the interest of using multi-isotope systems and large isotopic databases to reconstruct individual mobility. This study also underlines the challenges in linking isotope data to mobility, particularly in rapidly growing keratinous tissues.

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“…This field leverages rapid growth in isotopic and environmental geospatial data, supported by new data monitoring technologies, to enable spatial prediction of elemental isotope ratios in nature. The resulting data products constitute a geochemical “benchmark” that has been used to reconstruct migration patterns of animals and insects, 2,3 identify victims of violent crime, 4 and constrain the origin of illicit products 5 . Isoscapes models have also enabled a new generation of spatial biogeochemical research studies by providing spatially continuous predictions of isotope ratios of substrates or fluxes that can be used in mass balance analyses of the water cycle, 6 carbon cycle, 7 and nitrogen cycle, 8 among others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Streamlining geospatial data processing for isotopic landscape modeling

Woo

Zhao

Bowen

2021

Concurrency and Computation

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Stable isotopic landscape modeling has become a promising approach for answering research questions in multiple disciplines. However, its application has been hindered by the difficulty for individual researchers to collect, compile, and integrate environmental and isotopic data over large spatial and temporal scales and to develop and interpret geostatistical models. To address these challenges, we developed IsoMAP (http://isomap.org), a science gateway that enables researchers to access and integrate a number of disparate and diverse datasets, develop isoscape models over selected spatiotemporal domains using geostatistical algorithms, predict maps for the stable isotopic ratios, and associate a sample's isotope value with its most likely geographic origin. One main challenge in developing IsoMAP is to efficiently integrate large heterogeneous datasets into the modeling workflow to ensure real-time query response and timely data update. In this paper, we described how the geospatial data processing workflow was implemented in the initial version of gateway and how it has been improved by leveraging the built-in vector and raster data processing capabilities and the materialized view object of the PostgreSQL/PostGIS database. Our experience and lessons learned will be applicable to the development of other geospatial data workflows, a common task in the cyberinfrastructure of many science disciplines.

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Basic principles of stable isotope analysis in humanitarian forensic science

Cited by 19 publications

References 149 publications

Dietary homogenization and spatial distributions of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope ratios in human hair in South Korea

Dietary homogenization and spatial distributions of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope ratios in human hair in South Korea

Assessing the Reliability of Mobility Interpretation From a Multi-Isotope Hair Profile on a Traveling Individual

Streamlining geospatial data processing for isotopic landscape modeling

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