Functional and Structural Succession of Soil Microbial

Communities Below Decomposing Human Cadavers

Kelly L. Cobaugh, Sean M. Scaeffer, Jennifer DeBruyn

Introduction
An important process in all ecosystems is the decomposition of organic
matter. Most research has been done with plant litter because is so readily
available. Because of this, human decomposition is less widely studied and
understood. Carcasses are different than plants and decay much faster due
to the increased amount of water, the greater diversity of nutrients and the
ratio of carbon to nitrogen.
The purpose of the study was to observe and quantify the amount and
types of microbial populations in the soils under decomposing cadavers. This
information can help us understand how ecosystems are impacted during
this process. It also can be particularly useful in forensic study, especially
when a body has been moved from its original location.
The researchers hypothesized that the microbial communities in the
soils under the cadavers would change in function and structure. They also
hypothesized that human microbes would be introduced to the soil
environment, but would not persist for long outside of their host.
Materials and Methods
The study was done at the University of Tennessee Anthropology
Research Facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. The facility is an outdoor lab, and
consists of 1.3 acres of deciduous forest. The lab is used to study how the
human body decomposes. The bodies were placed on sites that, to the best
of the researchers knowledge, had not been used before for human
decomposition.
Four cadavers were donated to the University and used in the study.
All of them died of natural causes and did not have communicable diseases.
None of the bodies were autopsied or embalmed. All four were Caucasian,
two males and two females, and ranged in age from 60 to 90 years.
Each of the bodies were refrigerated right after death and were placed
at the site within three days. The decomposition of the cadavers took place
over the summer and fall of 2012. Gut samples were taken from each body
before they were placed at the site. This information was necessary to
gather as a reference because the gut harbors its own uniquely dense
microbial community, which is different from the soil.
 The soil was sampled before the bodies were placed and continued
until the bodies reached late advanced stage decay. How often the soil was
sampled was determined by the decomposition stage of the cadavers. There
are several stages of human decomposition; they are Fresh, Bloat, Active
Decay, Advanced Decay, and Late Advanced Decay. Each time the soil was
sampled the top 0-3 cm of soil, below the torso of the cadaver, was taken
using a 0.8 cm corer. About 20 cores were randomly taken at each sampling
and were processed. Every time a soil sample was taken from a cadaver
site, a similar soil sample was taken from a control site that was about 2
meters away and was free from human decomposition.
Results
The researchers found that there was very little change in the soil
chemistry at the control sites. The PH of the soils were between 6.34 to 6.58
throughout the study. There was also very little change in the amounts of
ammonia, organic carbon, nitrogen, nitrate, and phosphate in the control
soils.
In contrast, the researchers found that there were many changes in the
soil chemistry beneath the decaying cadavers. There was a significant
increase in extractable organic carbon and nitrogen, mostly ammonia, during
the Bloat-Active Decay stage. Phosphate also increased in the soil under
three of the cadavers. The fourth cadaver site had less phosphate in both
the control and cadaver site, so the data was non-significant. The PH of the
soil under the cadavers didnt change much overall.
The microbial respiration rates in the control soils were relatively
constant and showed very little change. In contrast, there were profound
changes to the microbial activity in the soil under the cadavers. During the
Bloat stage the respiration and biomass production rates began to increase.
Respiration rates were highest at two different times. The first maximum
point was during Bloat-Active and Active Decay, and second maximum point
was during the Advanced I stage. The researchers observed that the
biomass production began to decline during Active decay and that they
reached rates less than control soils. The respiration rates continued to be
elevated through the final stages of decomposition, and the biomass
production rates almost returned to its starting values.
The diversity of the bacterial community didnt change much in the
control soils. In the cadaver soils the richness and diversity of the bacteria
remained relatively unchanged, until the Advanced III stage, which is the
final stage of decay.
 The human-associated bacteria were tracked in the cadaver soil and
the researchers found that there was a significant increase of human
bacteria when the decomposition fluids enter the soil (Bloat-Active stage).
These levels remained high through Advanced Decay III. The human bacteria
levels remained elevated 4 days after the cadaver was removed, decreased
by 126 days, and were not found 204 days after removal.

Discussion
The hypothesis that the microbial communities in the soil under human
cadavers would change in both function and structure proved to be true. The
biggest change occurred when the structure of the body was compromised
and the fluids from the body entered the soil. The second change occurred
when most of the cadaver tissue had decomposed and rates slowed.
The hypothesis that the human associated bacteria wouldnt remain in
the soil for long periods of time after the cadaver was removed proved to be
false. The human-associated microbes surprisingly remain in the soil for long
periods of time. The researchers concluded We have additionally provided
evidence that human-associated microbes persist in the soils for surprisingly
long periods of time, suggesting a possible role in decomposition. Their low
abundances in natural soils and significant increases during decay render
them good candidates as biomarkers for long-term postmortem interval
estimates (Cobaugh, 2015).

Works Cited
Cobaugh, K. L., Schaeffer, S. M., & DeBruyn, J. M. (2015). Functional and Structural Succession of
Soil Microbial Communities Below Decomposing Human Cadavers. Plos One.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130201