Forensic Extraction And Microscopy Techniques For Diatom Analysis – Review

Abstract

Diatoms are a type of eukaryotic algae that are present in nearly all aquatic environments. They have a small size due to which they can enter the internal organs (brain, spleen, and bone marrow) like an individual with water. Thus, diatoms have forensic significance in the cases of drowning death as these help in revealing the information about the cause of death. For this purpose, diatoms have been extracted from both reference water and a biological sample and examined under a microscope to observe their morphological features. To increase the accuracy of the results, advanced techniques for accurate examination of diatoms have been developed. Furthermore, diatoms from samples have been identified and classified using artificial intelligence methods like convolutional neural networks and DNA barcoding, which can assist in determining the approximate geographical location of crime and cause of death. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of all methods developed for the forensic analysis of diatoms.