Written by SNWA Tuesday, 02 January 2007 00:00
Meet Dr Lynne Milne, Palynologist & Forensic Scientist
I am a palynologist and have interests in a number of scientific areas, but spend most of my time working as a forensic palynology. Currently I am a lecturer in the Centre for Forensic Science at The University of Western Australia (UWA). Our students include police officers, doctors, lawyers, dentists, nurses, vets, geologists, psychologists and microbiologists to name a few, as well as recently graduated students in both scientific and non-scientific disciplines. My forensic work also involves teaching police what forensic palynology is and how it works, conducting case work for State and Federal police and supervising the new generation of forensic palynologists (Masters and PhD students). I also work part-time in the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) at UWA and do research and consulting in other areas of palynology including aerobiology (for immunology), geology, vegetation history and climate change, plant taxonomy and phylogeny and environmental science.
Recently I have spent a lot of time doing media work promoting forensic palynology and my recently published book - ‘A Grain of Truth – how pollen brought a murderer to justice’ (published by Reed New Holland, with 8 colour photographic plates). This is the true story of the murder of a young Queensland mother - Samantha Hall (Bodsworth). Interwoven with Samantha’s story and my professional and personal experiences working on the case, is the story of forensic palynology and other cases and mysteries it has helped to solve.
Palynology is the study of pollen, spores and other microscopic plant bodies such as dinoflagellates (marine algal cysts). Pollen carries the male sex cells of flowering plants and plants that produce cones (e.g. pine trees). Spores are asexual reproductive bodies of ferns, mosses and fungi. I work mostly with pollen. There are four major characteristics of pollen that make it a very useful scientific tool – this is its (1) microscopic size, (2) abundance, (3) resistance to degradation and (3) complexity.
(1) Microscopic size - most pollen grains are 10-70 um in diameter (there are 1,000 um in a mm).
(2) Complexity – most plant species produce pollen or spores that are different from pollen of other plant species. This enables palynologists to link dispersed pollen and spores found in rocks, soil, dust etc, with the plants that produced them.
(3) Resistance to degradation – pollen and spore walls are so resistant to degradation that if they are deposited in the right conditions they can be preserved in rocks for millions of years.
(4) Abundance - pollen is produced in the anthers of flowers. Most flowers use wind or insects and small animals to help transport their pollen to the female part of a flower on another plant of the same species, so they must produce enormous amounts of pollen (100-100,000 grains per anther) to make sure some of it reaches its intended destination. BUT – most pollen ends up as particulate components of soil, dirt, dust and rocks. Therefore, pollen is everywhere.
Palynology is used by geologists to help date rocks for petroleum, mining and water exploration and to help unravel the history of plants on Earth; by geographers to investigate climatic and environmental change: by botanists for plant taxonomy and phylogeny; by immunologist to investigate allergenic pollen; by archaeologists to study the customs, rituals and agricultural practices of ancient peoples; by zoologists and environmental scientists to understand foraging habits of insects, birds and mammals and to investigate past native vegetation and habitats in order to preserve the present and protect endangered species. In a sense, all palynologists are detectives.
Forensic Palynology is the use of pollen and spores to help solve crimes and other mysteries (e.g. the Shroud of Turin), by proving or disproving a relationship between people, objects and localities. It works on the basis of ‘Locard’s Exchange Theory’, that ‘…every contact leaves a trace...’. In other words, a person who commits a crime unknowingly leaves at a crime scene, or takes away from it, microscopic evidence of their presence at that locality.
Like DNA and fingerprinting, palynology can link a person to a crime - but it can also help in investigations for which DNA and fingerprinting are not applicable. For example, it can help point police to an area in which a person who committed a crime may live and work, and can determine where illicit drugs and illegally imported goods have come from.
There are no typical working days in my life, but a week may included meeting with police or attending a crime scene; working with other forensic scientists (usually soil and fibre experts) to collect our respective samples from police exhibits; doing a vegetation survey of a crime scene; collecting reference pollen samples for analysis from the WA Herbarium; chemically processing pollen, soil and exhibit samples for casework, consulting or research; photographing and describing pollen reference samples; routine microscopic analysis of prepared samples; writing a police report; preparing and presenting a lecture and laboratory; and helping my postgraduate students with their projects (in the field, laboratory or at the microscope) – and - fielding the never ending emails.
The best things about my job are that it is never dull, it is extremely rewarding, I meet very interesting people and I can choose when I wish to do things. The most rewarding aspects of my job are teaching others about palynology and helping to solve crimes. The most unusual aspect is that I work with very small things that can’t be seen with the naked eye, but can help to catch criminals and solve other mysteries. Marking assignments is the least enjoyable part of my work, though even that can be rewarding when I realise how much work the students have put into them.
My advice to anyone wishing to pursue a career in any science is to follow your passion, and if you do, it will lead you to places and jobs you never dreamed of. Most palynologists have a degree in geology or geography, but some are botanists or archaeologists. Most forensic scientists of my generation did not set out to work in that field, but were drawn into it by circumstances. Today there are numerous courses in forensic science. My advice for anyone contemplating a career in forensics is to get a degree in what interests them most, then do a postgraduate diploma in forensic science to get an overall view of it and become familiar with police and court procedures, and then do a forensic postgraduate degree (Masters or PhD) in the area that they find most interesting – usually related to their initial degree.
Career pathways:
I did a BSc in Geology with Honours in Palynology at the University of Western Australia. After working as a consultant for several years I did a PhD part-time in palynology at The University of Queensland. While completing this degree I was asked to work on a murder case, which changed the emphasis of my career path from geology to forensic science.
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written by Suzane Hilgert, May 02, 2010
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written by Philip omondi onyango., May 07, 2010
Yours truly,
PHILIP OMONJDI ONYANGO
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