Colonisation Interval
Definition
The elapsed time since the first insect colonised the body. Often shorter than the PMI if access was delayed by concealment. An entomologist estimates a minimum colonisation interval; the PMI can only be stated as at least that long, potentially much longer.
Related terms
- Accumulated Degree Hours (ADH)
- A temperature-corrected measure of developmental time. Calculated by summing (hourly ambient temperature minus the species-specific base temperature threshold) across the period of...
- Entomotoxicology
- The analysis of insect tissue for drugs and toxins when decomposition has made conventional biological fluids unavailable. Blow-fly larvae feeding on a...
- Maggot-Mass Thermogenesis
- The elevation of temperature within a dense larval aggregation by the combined metabolic heat of thousands of larvae. Documented elevations range from...
- Minimum PMI (PMImin)
- The shortest interval consistent with the entomological evidence. In practice this is what entomologists estimate: a floor on elapsed time based on...
- Thermal Bias
- Systematic under- or over-estimation of developmental temperature caused by using distant weather-station data, solar radiation on an exposed body, or micro-environmental features...
Explained in
- Sources of Error and Uncertainty in Entomological PMIThe elapsed time since the first insect colonised the body. Often shorter than the PMI if access was delayed by concealment. An entomologist estimates a minimu...