[en] The investigation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with decomposition is an emerging field in forensic taphonomy due to their importance in locating human remains using biological detectors such as insects and canines. A consistent decomposition VOC profile has not yet been elucidated due to the intrinsic impact of the environment on the decomposition process in different climatic zones. The study of decomposition VOCs has typically occurred during the warmer months to enable chemical profiling of all decomposition stages. The present study investigated the decomposition VOC profile in air during both warmer and cooler months in a moist, mid-latitude (Cfb) climate as decomposition occurs year-round in this environment. Pig carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus L.) were placed on a soil surface to decompose naturally and their VOC profile was monitored during the winter and summer months. Corresponding control sites were also monitored to determine the natural VOC profile of the surrounding soil and vegetation. VOC samples were collected onto sorbent tubes and analyzed using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography – time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC6GC-TOFMS). The summer months were characterized by higher temperatures and solar radiation, greater rainfall accumulation, and comparable humidity when compared to the winter months. The rate of decomposition was faster and the number and abundance of VOCs was proportionally higher in summer. However, a similar trend was observed in winter and summer demonstrating a rapid increase in VOC abundance during active decay with a second increase in abundance occurring later in the decomposition process. Sulfur-containing compounds, alcohols and ketones represented the most abundant classes of compounds in both seasons, although almost all 10 compound classes identified contributed to discriminating the stages of decomposition throughout both seasons. The advantages of GC6GC-TOFMS were demonstrated for detecting and identifying trace levels of VOCs, particularly ethers, which are rarely reported as decomposition VOCs.
Disciplines :
Chemistry
Author, co-author :
Forbes, Shari L.; University of Technology Sydney > Center for Forensic Science
Perrault, Katelynn A.; University of Technology Sydney > Center for Forensic Science
Stefanuto, Pierre-Hugues ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Chimie analytique, organique et biologique
Nizio, Katie D.; University of Technology Sydney > Center for Forensic Science
Focant, Jean-François ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Chimie analytique, organique et biologique
Language :
English
Title :
Comparison of the Decomposition VOC Profile during Winter and Summer in a Moist, Mid-latitude (Cfb) Climate
Publication date :
November 2014
Journal title :
PLoS ONE
eISSN :
1932-6203
Publisher :
Public Library of Science, San Franscisco, United States - California
Mann RW, Bass WM, Meadows L (1990) Time since death and decomposition of the human body: Variables and observations in case and experimental field studies. J Forensic Sci 35: 103-111.
Gill-King H (1997) Chemical and ultrastructural aspects of decomposition. In: Haglund WD, Sorg MH, editors. Forensic taphonomy: The postmortem fate of human remains. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 93-108.
Clark MA, Worrell MB, Pless JE (1997) Postmortem changes in soft tissue. In: Haglund WD, Sorg MH, editors. Forensic taphonomy: The postmortem fate of human remains. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 151-164.
Bass WM (1997) Outdoor decomposition rates in Tennessee. In: Haglund WD, Sorg MH, editors. Forensic taphonomy: The postmortem fate of human remains. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 181-186.
Megyesi MS, Nawrocki SP, Haskell NH (2005) Using accumulated degree-days to estimate the postmortem interval from decomposed human remains. J Forensic Sci 50: 618-626.
Vass AA (2011) The elusive universal post-mortem interval formula. Forensic Sci Int 204: 34-40.
Zhou C, Byard RW (2011) Factors and processes causing accelerated decomposition in human cadavers-An overview. J Forensic Leg Med 18: 6-9.
Carter DO, Yellowlees D, Tibbett M (2007) Cadaver decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Naturwissenschaften 94: 12-24.
Carter DO, Yellowlees D, Tibbett M (2008) Temperature affects microbial decomposition of cadavers (Rattus rattus) in contrasting soils. Appl Soil Ecol 40: 129-137.
Hopkins DW (2008) The role of soil organisms in terrestrial decomposition. In: Tibbett M, Carter DO, editors. Soil analysis in forensic taphonomy: Chemical and biological effects of buried human remains. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 53-66.
Kasper J, Mumm R, Ruther J (2012) The composition of carcass volatile profiles in relation to storage time and climate conditions. Forensic Sci Int 223: 64-71.
Lauber CL, Metcalf JL, Keepers K, Ackermann G, Carter DO, et al. (2014) Vertebrate decomposition is accelerated by soil microbes. Appl Environ Microbiol 80: 4920-4929.
O'Brien RC, Forbes SL, Meyer J, Dadour I (2010) Forensically significant scavenging guilds in the southwest of Western Australia. Forensic Sci Int 198: 85-91.
Dabbs GR, Martin DC (2013) Geographic variation in the taphonomic effect of vulture scavenging: The case for Southern Illinois. J Forensic Sci 58: S20-S25.
Young A, Stillman R, Smith MJ, Krostjens AH (2014) An experimental study of vertebrate scavenging behavior in a northwest European woodland context. J Forensic Sci 59: 1333-1342.
Campobasso CP, Di Vella G, Introna F (2001) Factors affecting decomposition and Diptera colonization. Forensic Sci Int 120: 18-27.
Archer MS, Elgar MA (2003) Yearly activity patterns in southern Victoria (Australia) of seasonally active carrion insects. Forensic Sci Int 132: 173-176.
Joy JE, Liette NL, Harrah HL (2006) Carrion fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larval colonization of sunlit and shaded pig carcasses in West Virginia, USA. Forensic Sci Int 164: 183-192.
Voss SC, Spafford H, Dadour IR (2009) Annual and seasonal patterns of insect succession on decomposing remains at two locations in Western Australia. Forensic Sci Int 193: 26-36.
Sharanowski BJ, Walker EG, Anderson GS (2008) Insect succession and decomposition patterns on shaded and sunlit carrion in Saskatchewan in three different seasons. Forensic Sci Int 179: 219-240.
Meyer J, Anderson B, Carter DO (2013) Seasonal variation of carcass decomposition and gravesoil chemistry in a cold (Dfa) climate. J Forensic Sci 58: 1175-1182.
Prado e Castro C, Garcia MD, Martins da Silva P, Faria e Silva I, Serrano A (2013) Coleoptera of forensic interest: A study of seasonal community composition and succession in Lisbon, Portugal. Forensic Sci Int 232: 73-83.
Benbow ME, Lewis AJ, Tomberlin JK, Pechal JL (2013) Seasonal necrophagous insect community assembly during vertebrate carrion decomposition. J Med Entomol 50: 440-450.
Battan Horenstein M, Rosso B, Garcia MD (2012) Seasonal structure and dynamics of sarcosaprophagous fauna on pig carrion in a rural area of Cordoba (Argentina) : Their importance in forensic science. Forensic Sci Int 217: 146-156.
Arnaldos MI, Romera E, Presa JJ, Luna A, Garcia MD (2004) Studies on seasonal arthropod succession on carrion in the southeastern Iberian Peninsula. Int J Legal Med 118: 197-205.
Stejskal SM (2013) Death, decomposition and detector dogs: From science to scene. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Vass AA, Smith RR, Thompson CV, Burnett MN, Wolf DA, et al. (2004) Decompositional odor analysis database. J Forensic Sci 49: 760-769.
Vass AA, Smith RR, Thompson CV, Burnett MN, Dulgerian N, et al. (2008) Odor analysis of decomposing buried human remains. J Forensic Sci 53: 384-391.
Statheropoulos M, Spiliopouiou C, Agapiou A (2005) A study of volatile organic compounds evolved from the decaying human body. Forensic Sci Int 153: 147-155.
Brasseur C, Dekeirsschieter J, Schotsmans EM, de Koning S, Wilson AS, et al. (2012) Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-Time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the forensic study of cadaveric volatile organic compounds released in soil by buried decaying pig carcasses. J Chromatogr A 1255: 163-170.
Dekeirsschieter J, Verheggen FJ, Gohy M, Hubrecht F, Bourguignon L, et al. (2009) Cadaveric volatile organic compounds released by decaying pig carcasses (Sus domesticus L.) in different biotopes. Forensic Sci Int 189: 46-53.
Dekeirsschieter J, Stefanuto PH, Brasseur C, Haubruge E, Focant JF (2012) Enhanced characterization of the smell of death by comprehensive twodimensional gas chromatography-Time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGCTOFMS). PLoS One 7: E39005.
Stadler S, Stefanuto PH, Brokl M, Forbes SL, Focant JF (2013) Characterization of volatile organic compounds from human analogue decomposition using thermal desorption coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-Time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 85: 998-1005.
Forbes SL, Perrault KA (2014) Decomposition odour profiling in the air and soil surrounding carrion vertebrate carrion. PLoS One 9: E95107.
Perrault KA, Stuart BH, Forbes SL (2014) A longitudinal study of decomposition odour in soil using sorbent tubes and solid phase microextraction. Chromatogr 1: 120-140.
Stefanuto P-H, Perrault K, Stadler S, Pesesse R, Brokl M, et al. (2014) Reading cadaveric decomposition chemistry with a new pair of glasses. ChemPlusChem 79: 786-789.
Focant J-F, Stefanuto P-H, Brasseur C, Dekeirsschieter J, Haubruge E, et al. (2013) Forensic cadaveric decomposition profiling by GCxGC-TOFMS analysis of VOCs. Chem. Bull. Kazakh Natl. Univ. 4: 177-186.
Peel MC, Finlayson BL, McMahon TA (2007) Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 11: 1633-1644.
Payne JA (1965) A summer carrion study of the baby pig Sus scrofa Linnaeus. Ecology 46: 592-602.
Kalinova B, Podskalska H, Ruzicka J, Hoskovec M (2009) Irresistible bouquet of death-how are burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorus) attracted by carcasses. Naturwissenschaften 96: 889-899.
Hoffman EM, Curran AM, Dulgerian N, Stockham RA, Eckenrode BA (2009) Characterization of the volatile organic compounds present in the headspace of decomposing human remains. Forensic Sci Int 186: 6-13.
Statheropoulos M, Agapiou A, Spiliopouiou C, Pallis GC, Sianos E (2007) Environmental aspects of VOCs evolved in the early stages of human decomposition. Sci Total Environ 385: 221-227.
DeGreeff LE, Furton KG (2011) Collection and identification of human remains volatiles by non-contact, dynamic airflow sampling and SPME-GC/MS using various sorbent materials. Anal Bioanal Chem 401: 1295-1307.
Cablk ME, Szelagowski EE, Sagebiel JC (2012) Characterization of the volatile organic compounds present in the headspace of decomposing animal remains, and compared with human remains. Forensic Sci Int 220: 118-125.
Paczkowski S, Schutz S (2011) Post-mortem volatiles of vertebrate tissue. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 91: 917-935.
LeBlanc HN, Logan JG (2010) Exploiting insect olfaction in forensic entomology. In: Amendt J, Campobasso CP, Goff ML, Grassberger M, editors. Current concepts in forensic entomology. New York: Springer. 205-222.
Podskalská H, Růžička J, Hoskovec M, Sálek M (2009) Use of infochemicals to attract carrion beetles into pitfall traps. Entomol Exp Appl 132: 59-64.
Dekeirsschieter J, Frederickx C, Lognay G, Brostaux Y, Verheggen FJ, et al. (2013) Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of Thanatophilus sinuatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Silphidae) to selected cadaveric volatile organic compounds. J Forensic Sci. 58: 917-23.
Lorenzo N, Wan TL, Harper RJ, Hsu Y-L, Chow M, et al. (2003) Laboratory and field experiments used to identify Canis lupus var. familiaris active odor signature chemicals from drugs, explosives, and humans. Anal Bioanal Chem 376: 1212-1224.
Collison IB (2005) Elevated postmortem ethanol concentrations in an insulindependent diabetic. J Anal Toxicol 29: 762-764.
Swann L, Forbes SL, Lewis SW (2009) Observations of the temporal variation in chemical content of decomposition fluid: A preliminary study using pigs as a model system. Aust J Forensic Sci 42: 199-210.
Tipple CA, Caldwell PT, Kile BM, Buessman DJ, Rushing B, et al. (2014) Comprehensive characterization of commercially available canine training aids. Forensic Sci Int 242: 242-254.
