Botânica e entomologia forenses

Code:

PD_CF67

Acronym:

PD_CF67

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Forensic Sciences

Instance: 2023/2024 - SP

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Public Health and Forensic Sciences, and Medical Education
Course/CS Responsible:	Doctoral Programme in Forensic Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
PDCF	0	Current Studies Plan	1	-	6	28	162

Teaching language

Portuguese
Obs.: Inglês

Objectives

Concerning forensic botany, at the final of the unit student should be able to:

• Understand and contrast the structure and cell wall components of plant cells.
• Compare and contrast the structures by which vascular and non-vascular plants obtain and retain water, allow gas exchange for photosynthesis, and allow for long-distance internal transport of water.
• Compare and contrast the long distance transport of carbohydrates with that of water and nutrients in a plant.
• Categorize plant structures and their particular features that facilitate dispersal of the plant in the Environment
• Categorize internal and external cues based on their effects on plant form.

Concerning forensic entomology, at the final of the unit student should be able to:

• Understand and contrast the different orders of insects.

• Understand the main methods applied to genotyping in Forensic Molecular Entomology.

Learning outcomes and competences

The programmatic contents incorporate the most update scientific knowledge on the subject and show the experience and the pedagogical and scientific knowledge of the professors responsible for the curricular unit. The programmatic contents confer to the student a solid theoretical knowledge on the plant structure and organization as well as practical knowledge of the methods necessary to study and identify plants, plant remains, tissues and pollens, as well as larvae and insects, integrating this knowledge in the forensic setting.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. Forensic Botany:

• The plant cell wall; carbohydrate-based structure and diversity of functions.


• Structures for water acquisition and retention, gas exchange, photosynthesis, and growth and reproduction.


• Plant growth; primary and secondary meristems; retention of groups of undifferentiated and dividing cells during plant life.


• Fruit structure and seed dispersal; other dispersing plant parts.


• Influence of external and internal cues on the development of plant form.


• Plant and plant remains identification.


• Wood identification for forensic purposes.


• Pollen identification on air, soils and clothing.


• Plant molecular biology techniques for forensics.

1. Forensic Entomology:

• Fundamentals of genetics with application to Forensic Molecular Entomolgy.


• Technical aspects related to the study of DNA polymorphisms.


• Mitochondrial DNA - theoretical and practical perspective.

• Molecular identification of entomological specimens.

Mandatory literature

Byrd JH, Castner JL.; Forensic Entomology. The Utility of Arthropods in Legal Investigations.

Teaching methods and learning activities

28 hours of lab practice.

Discussion sessions of assigned subjects and lab work results

Lab attendance compulsory (2/3)

Evaluation distributed assessment without exam.

Oral presentation (50%) and Laboratory written report (50%).

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	40,00
Prova oral	30,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	40,00
Frequência das aulas	28,00
Total:	68,00

Eligibility for exams

Evaluation distributed assessment without exam.

Calculation formula of final grade

Oral presentation (50%) and Laboratory written report (50%)