FORENSIC BOTANY AND AQUATIC PLANT ANALYSIS: EMERGING APPLICATIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Environmental crimes such as illegal industrial discharge, oil spills, mining contamination, eutrophication, and freshwater habitat destruction pose serious threats to ecological sustainability and biodiversity conservation. In recent years, forensic botany has emerged as a promising interdisciplinary field for investigating environmental disturbances through the analysis of plant-based evidence. This review critically examines the emerging applications of aquatic plant analysis in environmental crime investigation and ecological forensics. Aquatic plants function as effective bioindicators due to their ecological sensitivity, pollutant bioaccumulation capacity, and ability to preserve long-term environmental signatures associated with contamination events. The review highlights the forensic significance of aquatic macrophytes, algae, and other aquatic vegetation in detecting heavy metals, hydrocarbons, radionuclides, nutrients, and microplastics in aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, the integration of emerging analytical technologies including environmental DNA (eDNA), DNA barcoding, metabolomics, stable isotope analysis, remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and artificial intelligence has significantly enhanced species identification, pollution source attribution, ecological reconstruction, and environmental monitoring. Despite substantial progress, challenges related to methodological standardization, environmental variability, and legal admissibility remain critical concerns. Overall, aquatic forensic botany represents a rapidly evolving and sustainable forensic approach with significant potential for strengthening environmental monitoring, ecological restoration, and environmental justice frameworks.