Species discrimination from blood traces using ATR FT-IR spectroscopy and chemometrics: Application in wildlife forensics

Efficient tools for the identification and discrimination of species are imperative in wildlife conservation since they can endow with information of species exploitation and also abet in solving problems related to forensic science. Herein, a non-destructive and rapid analytical method (ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy) coupled with PCA and PLS-DA was employed to analyze the dry blood samples for the species discrimination. Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), and Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) species were used to construct the chemometric models. Additionally, Domestic Pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) and Human (Homo sapiens) blood were taken for the external validation study. The evaluation results illustrate that the ATR FT-IR Spectroscopy in combination with PLS-DA model showed statistically confident discrimination among selected species from dry blood traces. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy supported with predictive models has been a robust, ideal, and suitable tool for species discrimination from dry blood traces recovered in wildlife investigations.