Decomposition (or spoilage) refers to the reduction of the body of a formerly living organism into simpler forms of matter. For decomposition of dead organisms, see Decomposition. ... Votes are people of Votia who speak the Finno-Ugric Votic language, who until World War II lived in the northern parts of Estonia. ... Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. ... Inventory is a list of goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held available in stock by a business. ... Distressed inventory is basically any stock whos potential to be sold at the normal price has passed or will soon pass. ... Perishable Records is an indie record label founded by Chicago musicians Ben Massarella and Tim Rutili. ... Life on Earth redirects here. ...

Plant decomposition

See also: Compost and Anaerobic digestion

In most grassland ecosystems, fire is the primary mode of decomposition, making it crucial in nutrient cycling (DeBano et al. 1998). Also, fungi helps plants decompose. Hello testing A handful of compost A double-wide bin with compost at different stages of decomposition Compost is the aerobically decomposed remnants of organic materials. ... Two-stage, low-solids, UASB anaerobic digesters as part of a mechanical biological treatment system, with sequencing batch reactor Anaerobic digestion (AD) is where the naturally occurring processes of anaerobic degradation is harnessed and contained. ... The Konza tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas. ... For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation). ... In ecology and Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle is a circuit or pathway by which a chemical element or molecule moves through both biotic (bio-) and abiotic (geo-) compartments of an ecosystem. ...

Animal decomposition

Ants eating a dead snake.

The body of a living organism begins to decompose (as part of a succession) shortly after death. Such decomposition can be simplified in two stages: In the first stage, it is limited to the production of vapors. In the second stage, liquid materials form and the flesh or plant matter begins to decompose. The science which studies such decomposition generally is called taphonomy. Download high resolution version (1280x960, 696 KB)Meat ants cleaning out a dead snake Taken by User:Fir0002 File links The following pages link to this file: Ant Categories: GFDL images ... Download high resolution version (1280x960, 696 KB)Meat ants cleaning out a dead snake Taken by User:Fir0002 File links The following pages link to this file: Ant Categories: GFDL images ... For other uses, see Death (disambiguation), Dead (disambiguation), Death (band) or Deceased (band). ... Taphonomy is the study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die. ...

Historically, the progression of decomposition of a living organism has been described as taking place in four stages: fresh (autolysis), bloat (putrefaction), decay (putrefaction and carnivores) and dry (diagenesis). In chemistry, autolysis is the production of a substance which catalyses the reaction it was made in, or catalyzes its own transformation into another compound. ... Putrefaction is the decomposition of proteins, especially by anaerobic microorganisms. ... In geology and oceanography, diagenesis is any chemical, physical, or biological change undergone by a sediment after its initial deposition and during and after its lithification, exclusive of surface alteration (weathering) and metamorphism. ...

Process

Decomposition begins at the moment of death, caused by two factors: autolysis, the breaking down of tissues by the body's own internal chemicals and enzymes; and putrefaction, the breakdown of tissues by bacteria. These processes release gases that are the chief source of the characteristic odor of dead bodies. These gases swell the body. In chemistry, autolysis is the production of a substance which catalyses the reaction it was made in, or catalyzes its own transformation into another compound. ... Ribbon diagram of the enzyme TIM, surrounded by the space-filling model of the protein. ... Putrefaction is the decomposition of proteins, especially by anaerobic microorganisms. ... Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... Gas can also refer to gasoline and natural gas and also hydrogen. ...

Scavengers play an important role in decomposition. Insects and other animals are typically the next agent of decomposition, if the body is accessible to them. The most important insects that are typically involved in the process include the fleshflies (Sarcophagidae) and blowflies (Calliphoridae). The green-bottle fly seen in the summer is a blowfly. Larger scavengers, including coyotes, dogs, wolves, foxes, rats, and mice may eat a body if it is accessible to them. Some of these animals also remove and scatter bones. For a person who scavenges, see Waste picker. ... Subfamilies Miltogramminae Sarcophaginae Fleshflies, family Sarcophagidae, are insects that are often mistaken for common houseflies, although they are somewhat larger in size. ... Subfamilies Miltogramminae Sarcophaginae Fleshflies, family Sarcophagidae, are insects that are often mistaken for common houseflies, although they are somewhat larger in size. ... Subfamilies Calliphorinae Chrysomyiinae The Blowflies are members of the family Calliphoridae of flies (Diptera). ... Subfamilies Calliphorinae Chrysomyiinae The Blowflies are members of the family Calliphoridae of flies (Diptera). ... For other uses, see Coyote (disambiguation). ... Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a domestic subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... This article is about the animal. ... Species 50 species; see text *Several subfamilies of Muroids include animals called rats. ... This article is about the animal. ...

Factors

The rate and manner of decomposition in an animal body is strongly affected by a number of factors. In roughly descending degrees of importance, they are:

• Temperature
• The availability of oxygen
• Prior embalming
• Cause of death
• Burial, and depth of burial
• Access by scavengers
• Trauma, including wounds and crushing blows
• Humidity, or wetness
• Rainfall
• Body size and weight
• Clothing
• The surface on which the body rests
• Foods/objects inside the specimens digestive tract (bacon compared to lettuce)

The speed at which decomposition occurs varies greatly. Factors such as temperature, humidity, and the season of death all determine how fast a fresh body will skeletonize or mummify. A basic guide for the effect of environment on decomposition is given as Casper's Law (or Ratio): when there is free access of air a body decomposes twice as fast than if immersed in water and eight times faster than if buried in earth. For other uses, see Temperature (disambiguation). ... General Name, symbol, number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals, chalcogens Group, period, block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) pale blue (liquid) Standard atomic weight 15. ... Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for display at a funeral. ... This page deals with the cessation of life. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... For a person who scavenges, see Waste picker. ... In medicine, a trauma patient has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury resulting in secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death. ... Superficial bullet wounds In medicine, a wound is a type of physical trauma wherein the skin is torn, cut or punctured (an open wound), or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion (a closed wound). ... Humidity is the amount of water vapor in air. ... This article is about precipitation. ... Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. ...

The most important variable is a body's accessibility to insects, particularly flies. On the surface in tropical areas, invertebrates alone can easily reduce a fully fleshed corpse to clean bones in under two weeks. The skeleton itself is not permanent; acids in soils can reduce it to unrecognizable components. This is one reason given for the lack of human remains found in the wreckage of the Titanic, even in parts of the ship considered inaccessible to scavengers. Freshly skeletonized bone is often called "green" bone and has a characteristic greasy feel. Under certain conditions (normally cool, damp soil), bodies may undergo saponification and develop a waxy substance called adipocere, caused by the action of soil chemicals on the body's proteins and fats. The formation of adipocere slows decomposition by inhibiting the bacteria that cause putrefaction. For other uses, see Acid (disambiguation). ... Loess field in Germany Surface-water-gley developed in glacial till, Northern Ireland Soil is a complex mixture of materials, principally ground up rock and water. ... For other uses, see Titanic (disambiguation). ... Saponification of a lipid with potassium hydroxide. ... Adipocere or grave wax or mortuary wax is the insoluble fatty acids left as residue from pre-existing fats from decomposing material such as a human cadaver. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... For other uses, see FAT. Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. ...

In extremely dry or cold conditions, the normal process of decomposition is halted — by either lack of moisture or temperature controls on bacterial and enzymatic action — causing the body to be preserved as a mummy. Frozen mummies commonly restart the decomposition process when thawed, whilst heat-desiccated mummies remain so unless exposed to moisture. This article is about the corpse preparation method, for other uses of Mummy see Mummy (disambiguation) An Egyptian mummy kept in the Vatican Museums. ...

The bodies of newborns who never ingested food are an important exception to the normal process of decomposition. They lack the internal microbial flora that produce much of decomposition and quite commonly mummify if kept in even moderately dry conditions.

Embalming

Embalming is the practice of delaying decomposition of human and animal remains. Embalming slows decomposition somewhat, but does not forestall it indefinitely. Embalmers typically pay great attention to parts of the body seen by mourners, such as the face and hands. The chemicals used in embalming repel most insects, and slow down bacterial putrefaction by "fixing" cellular proteins, which means that they cannot act as a nutrient for bacteria, and killing the bacteria themselves. Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for display at a funeral. ...

In sufficiently dry environments, an embalmed body may end up mummified and it is not uncommon for bodies in dry vaults to remain preserved to a viewable extent after decades, such as the murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Another case of this would be the body of Vladimir Lenin, who was kept submerged in a special tank of fluid for decades, almost perfectly preserved. Bodies submerged in peat bog may become naturally "embalmed", arresting decomposition and resulting in a preserved specimen known as a bog body. The body of Evita Peron was kept perfectly preserved for many years, and as far as is known, may still be so (her body is no longer on display as it once was). This article is about the corpse preparation method, for other uses of Mummy see Mummy (disambiguation) An Egyptian mummy kept in the Vatican Museums. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi. ... Lenin redirects here. ... Peat in Lewis, Scotland Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. ... Lütt-Witt Moor, a bog in Henstedt-Ulzburg in northern Germany. ... Grauballe man at Mosegaard-Museum, Denmark Bog bodies, also known as bog people, are preserved human bodies found in sphagnum bogs in Northern Europe, Great Britain and Ireland. ... Evitas image appeared on a wide variety of products, including stamps, coins, postcards and calendars. ...

The time for an embalmed body to be reduced to a skeleton varies greatly. Even when a body is decomposed, embalming treatment can still be achieved (the arterial system decays slower) but would not restore a natural appearance without extensive reconstruction and cosmetic work, and is largely used to control the foul odours due to decomposition. For other uses, see Skeleton (disambiguation). ...

Importance to forensics

Various sciences study the decomposition of bodies. These sciences fall under the general rubric of forensics, because the usual motive for study of the decomposition of human bodies is to determine the time and cause of death, for legal purposes: The word forensic (from Latin: forensis - forum) refers to something of, pertaining to, or used in a court of law. ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ...

• Forensic pathology studies the clues to the cause of death found in the corpse as a medical phenomenon
• Forensic entomology studies the insects and other vermin found in corpses; the sequence in which they appear, the kinds of insects, and where they are found in their life cycle are clues that can shed light on the time of death, the length of a corpse's exposure, and whether the corpse was moved.
• Forensic anthropology is the branch of physical anthropology that studies skeletons and human remains, usually to seek clues as to the identity, race, and sex of their former owner.

The Body Farm, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has a number of bodies laid out in various situations in a fenced-in plot near the medical center. Scientists at the University study how the human body decays in various circumstances to gain a better understanding into decomposition. Forensic pathology is a branch of medicine concerned with determining cause of death, usually for criminal law cases and civil law cases in some jurisdictions. ... For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ... Forensic entomology is the science and study of insects and other arthropods related to legal investigations. ... Look up vermin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology and human osteology (the study of the human skeleton) in a legal setting, most often in criminal cases where the victims remains are more or less skeletonized. ... Physical anthropology, often called biological anthropology, studies the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution. ... // For the Patricia Cornwell novel, see The Body Farm (novel). ... The University of Tennessee (UT), sometimes called the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT Knoxville or UTK), is the flagship institution of the statewide land-grant University of Tennessee public university system in the American state of Tennessee. ... Nickname: Location within the U.S. State of Tennessee. ...

A decaying peach over a period of six days. Each frame is approximately 12 hours apart, as the peach shrivels and becomes covered with mold.

Image File history File links DecayingPeachSmall. ... This article is about the fungi known as molds. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Decomposition

Look up decomposition, spoilage, perishable in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Cadaverine
• Putrescine
• Skeletonization (forensics)
• Staling