Human Decomposition Ecology and Postmortem Microbiology

Decomposition is the mobilization of nutrients bound to once-living organisms into the surrounding ecosystem so that they may become recycled as living biomass (Swift et al. 1979), be released into the atmosphere and soil, or become preserved as inorganic constituents of fossilization (Behrensmeyer 1984). Human decomposition is no exception to this process and lies at the center of a complex web of cultural, physicochemical, and biological reactions. The extent of preservation/destruction of a corpse is a function of the surrounding decomposer populations, the quality of the resource being decomposed, and the cultural and environmental modulators, all of which combine to form a unique and yet ephemeral decompositional environment (Carter et al. 2007).

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