Forensic Palynology

Forensic Palynology

• Ao Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Martina Weber
• Mag. Dr. Silvia Ulrich

Pollen is an invisible witness. Forensic Palynology uses pollen (and spores) to solve crimes. Pollen is useful in forensic investigation, because it is microscopically small, the pollen wall is extremely resistant to decay, and the pollen morphology allows to correlate pollen to a plant genus, sometimes even to a plant species.

Forensic Palynology can answer questiones like: Can we link an object or a suspect to a scene of crime or discovery scene? Is the discovery scene the crime scene? When and where was the crime committed? Where do illigal drugs or other items originate from? Is safran or honey faked?

By the way: One of the worldwide first cases where pollen was used as a forensic tool to solve a murder crime occurred in Austria.