Pollen calendar
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A pollen calendar is used to show the peak pollen times for different types of plant pollen, which causes
allergic reaction Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...
s in certain people.


In forensics

A pollen calendar can be a very useful tool in forensic science, because it can be used to place the month, or week, or date of death.E. Montali, A. Mercuri, G. Trevisan Grandi, and C. Accorsi. "Towards a 'crime pollen calendar'—Pollen analysis on corpses throughout one year." ''Forensic Science International'', Volume 163, Issue 3, pp. 211–223. Abstract found a
ScienceDirect website
Accessed February 22, 2010. .
The use of pollen for
criminal investigation Criminal investigation is an applied science that involves the study of facts that are then used to inform criminal trials. A complete criminal investigation can include searching, interviews, interrogations, evidence collection and preservat ...
purposes is called "forensic
palynology Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...
".D.C. Mildenhall, P.E.J. Wiltshire, and V.M. Bryant. "Editorial: Forensic palynology." ''Forensic Science International'', Volume 163 (2006), pp. 161–162. Found a
Texas A & M University website
(PDF). Accessed February 23, 2010.
However, the use of a pollen calendar to set the date of death should be used with extreme caution, and only by a carefully trained
expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
.Patricia E. J. Wiltshire. "Forensic Ecology, Botany, and Palynology: Some Aspects of Their Role in Criminal Investigation," in ''Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics'' (Springer Netherlands 2009), pp. 129–149. (print), 978-1-4020-9204-6 (online). Found a
SpringerLink website
Accessed February 23, 2010. .
The CSI effect has put pressure on some
police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s and district attorneys to provide pollen-based evidence, but such evidence "appear to be of limited use in the forensic context where outcomes are scrutinised in
court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
."


See also

* Aeroallergen * National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit * Hay fever


References

{{reflist


External links


United States pollen calendars
(Does not lead to any pollen calendars)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100112122229/http://www.allergy.org.nz/about+allergies/pollen+allergy.html New Zealand allergy pagesan
New Zealand pollen calendar (printable PDF)

Australian pollen calendar (printable PDF)
Heuristics Forensic techniques Calendars