microbial clock
English edit
Etymology edit
Term coined by microbial ecologist and evolutionary biologist Jessica Metcalf around 2010.
Noun edit
microbial clock (plural microbial clocks)
- related to post-mortem forensic analysis, this is a specific microbiome which changes in a stereotypical fashion which marks time passed after expiration of a human or animal.
References edit
- Beans, Carolyn (2 January 2018). "Can microbes keep time for forensic investigators?". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115 (1): 3–6 – via Pubmed Central.