Season matters: Timing of cadaver deposition influences soil biogeochemical changes in a temperate human taphonomic facility
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Human taphonomic facilities (HTF) are outdoor spaces dedicated to research, educational and training activities related to human decomposition. Through the purging of decomposition by-products, a body within a HTF will generate a chemically and microbially disrupted zone of soil known as a Cadaver Decomposition Island (CDI). The biochemical dynamics of CDIs have been minimally investigated across contrasting seasons, thereby impeding our understanding of how cadaveric inputs are processed within temperate soils. This gap was addressed in a Canadian HTF by examining soil organic matter (SOM) chemistry and bacterial metabolic responses within the CDIs of donors bodies who were deposited under warm or cold seasonal conditions. Decomposition generated a pulse of SOM that was first rich in carbon then nitrogen. This was associated with an enrichment in δ 13 C and δ 15 N that was attributable to cadaveric tissues and enhanced mineralization. Fluorescence spectroscopy also revealed a transition in the molecular characteristics of organic matter that was indicative of a shift from recalcitrant terrestrial substances to labile microbial compounds. In addition, bacteria were observed to preferentially utilize carbohydrate substrates for energy production. These effects arose during the Active–Dry phases of decomposition, occurring between 13–139 days for warm deposited donors, but were delayed (31–364 days) and reduced in magnitude for cold donors. All changes were limited to the A-horizon and within a sampling radius of 20 cm from the body. These findings will inform temperate HTFs of their potential environmental impact and direct the development of soil-based forensic techniques. • Effect of human decomposition on soil biochemistry was spatially constrained. • Increases in soil carbon preceded nitrogen. • Bacterial processing altered soil organic matter lability. • Cadaveric inputs enhanced bacterial mineralization but supressed growth. • Cold season deposited led to delayed and reduced soil changes, even after warming.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".