Korean J Leg Med.  2011 Nov;35(2):120-129.

Establishment of Diatom Profile for Improving Reliability of Diagnosis of Drowning - Centered on the Main Drowning Sites of Han River

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Forensic Medicine, National Forensic Service, Seoul, Korea.
  • 2Department of Biology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea. jschoi63@dreamwiz.com

Abstract

Diatomology has provided important evidences for diagnosis of drowning in forensic practice. However, conflicting opinions about the reliability of diatom test still exist. As a part of efforts to end this controversy, it is very important to secure the diatom profile in the water sample of drowning site. Our results obtained in this study show the characteristics of temporal and spatial distribution of diatom collected from the main drowning sites of Han river in Korea. During spring, 111 taxa (98 species and 13 varieties) were identified from 31 genera, and 87 taxa (77 species and 10 varieties) were identified from 22 genera during summer. At the level of genus Achnanthes, Cyclotella, Cymbella, Fragilaria, Navicula, Nitzschia, and Stephanodiscus represented the highest numbers, and were the most widely occurred during two seasons. The centric diatoms, Stephanodiscus hantzschii f. tenuis and Cyclotella atomus were typical of spring and summer, respectively, and identified as dominant indicator species. The commonly occurred species, including dominant species in the seasonal cluster analysis influenced the formation of site - specific groups. As a result, our results will be able to be used not only as the comparison data of diatom found in the drowning victim's tissue but also a reference data to rule out the possibility of contamination.

Keyword

drowning; diatom; Han river; centric diatoms; reference data

MeSH Terms

Diatoms
Drowning
Korea
Rivers
Seasons
Water
Water
Full Text Links
  • KJLM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr