In the cases of timber theft from the forest the criminals cut the trees and take the timber away. When it is recovered during investigation it is to be proved that it belonged to the tree whose roots and basal stem portion is left in the forest.Physical matching is not possible when the stolen timber is sawed and turned into planks.
The discussion article by Dormontt et al. titled "Forensic timber identification: It's time to integrate disciplines to combat illegal logging" might be of help.
In addition:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0107669
http://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/Fingerprinting_conf_rep_EN.pdf
There is a company Agroisolab which is able to
determine the origin of wood with isotope analysis
within a range of 200km.
There is a solution to prevent wood theft
which works with a transponder that has to be
concealed under the rind of timber.
Unfortunately no English version of
the article available.
http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/holzdieben-mit-peilsendern-auf-der-spur.1162.de.html?dram:article_id=265484
Regards,
Joachim
Thanks Madam Yasemin and Dear Sir Joachim for prompt answers. I checked up the studies suggested by you are for species of origin identification where as my problem is identification and relating timber to a particular tree.However your answers really enlightened me on the subject. THANKS AND REGARDS.
In Germany there's the problem that wood from
rainforests are imported illegally, and here
it's not important from what individual tree
the planks come from.
According to Andrew Lowe, fingerprinting is
possible for identification of individual trees.
http://phys.org/news/2014-03-fingerprinting-trees-illegal.html
Somewhat related:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2008.00938.x/abstract
Regards,
Joachim
Hello J.R.,
Could genetic analysis of trees be used to exclude or include a particular wood sample from a group of known trees? I can see a problem in getting courts to accept various methods of analysis and identification, particularly when standards differ internationally.
Does your question have any relation to trees covered in the the CITES treaty or the Lacey act? The problem of illegal harvesting of trees has surfaced in Brazil and other countries with rain forests. Maybe specialists who work on these problems might be able to contribute something to stop illegal harvesting in other areas, such as temperate forests.
Hope this helps,
Marion
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