Brazilian scientists sampled 800 trees across 63 Amazon locations; their atomic fingerprinting...

Brazilian scientists sampled 800 trees across 63 Amazon locations to build an isotopic mapping model.

Stable isotope analysis measures ratios of oxygen-18 and oxygen-16 in tree cellulose, tracing timber origin.

The model can exclude 92% of the Amazon forest when identifying suspicious timber.

The project, led by Professor Luiz Antonio Martinelli at CENA-USP, uses stable isotopes as a tamperproof method for Brazil's Federal Police.

Findings were published in the journal Molecules in a paper led by Ana Claudia Gama Batista titled 'Isoscape of Oxygen Stable Isotopes in Woods of the Amazon'.