{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1007/s11104-021-05261-9", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:15:19Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-01-30", "title": "Tracing hotspots of soil erosion in high mountain environments: how forensic science based on plant eDNA can lead the way. An opinion", "description": "High mountain environments are among the most fragile on Earth. Due to anthropogenic disturbances and the exposure to extreme weather events, the rates of soil erosion have recently been accelerating, resulting in ecological degradation and geological hazards. Ecological restoration of mountains and an improved understanding of nature-based solutions to mitigate land degradation is therefore of utmost urgency. Identifying hotspots of soil erosion is a first step towards improving mitigation strategies. A promising methodology to identify erosion hotspots is sediment source fingerprinting, that differentiates the properties of soil from different sources, using signatures such as elemental geochemistry or radionuclides. However, in areas with complex lithologies or shallow and poorly developed soils, geochemical fingerprints allow only a rough distinction between erosion hotspots. In this opinion paper, we explore the relevance of environmental DNA (eDNA) that originates from plant litter and fixes onto fine soil particles, as a targeted sediment fingerprinting method sensitive to vegetation that could potentially allow the identification of erosion hotspots and their relative importance from sedimentary deposits. Pioneering studies indicate that eDNA allows not only the detection of specific vegetation communities, but also the identification of individual plant species. Supported by the increasing availability and quality of vegetation maps and eDNA reference libraries, we argue that sediment source fingerprinting using eDNA from plant litter, will evolve into a valuable method to identify hotspots of soil erosion and allow stakeholders to prioritize areas where ecological restoration is necessary in high mountain environments.", "keywords": ["Soil and water bioengineering", "Vegetation", "[SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics", "550", "Sediment source fingerprinting", "Phylogenetics and taxonomy", "[SDV.BV.BOT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics", "15. Life on land", "Alpine", "01 natural sciences", "[SDV.BV.BOT] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics", "[SDE.BE] Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "Landslide", "Erosion", "13. Climate action", "[SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", "[SDV.BID.SPT] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics", " Phylogenetics and taxonomy", "[SDV.EE.ECO] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", " environment/Ecosystems", "[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "environment/Ecosystems", "sedDNA", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11104-021-05261-9.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05261-9"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Plant%20and%20Soil", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s11104-021-05261-9", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s11104-021-05261-9", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s11104-021-05261-9"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-01-30T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.10836974", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:22:04Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Organic Matter, Geochemical, Visible Spectrocolorimetric Properties, Radiocesium Properties, and Grain Size of Potential Source Material, Target Sediment Core Layers and Laboratory Mixtures for Conducting Sediment Fingerprinting Approaches in the Mano Dam Reservoir (Hayama Lake) Catchment, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan", "description": "The current dataset was compiled to study sediment fingerprintings practices, i.e tracer selection and contribution modelling. Organic matter, elemental geochemistry, visible difuse spectrocolorimetric properties, radiocesium properties, and grain size were analysed were analysed in potential source material that may supply sediment to coastal rivers, here the upper part of the Mano river, draining the main Fukushima radioactive pollution plume (Japan). Four potential soil source materials (n = 68) were considered: undecontaminated cropland (n = 24), as non-decontaminated soil before the application of local decontamination policies, remediated cropland (n = 10), as decontaminated soil after the application of local decontamination policies, forest soils (n = 24) and subsurface material originating from channel bank collapse or landslides (n = 10; referred to as subsoil). A sediment core was collected in the Mano Dam lake (Hayama lake) on the 6th June 2021 and was sectionned into 1-cm layers (n = 38). Laboratory mixtures (n = 27) were made to assess different contribution levels from the sources.  The current dataset comprises four .csv files including data and metadata information and their respective descriptions of variables. The data set is composed of soil samples, sediment core layer and laboratory mixtures. Laboratory mixtures were prepared to provide a dataset to calibrate/validate un-mixing models implemented to address this research question and analysed in the same conditions and using the same equipment as the source/target material.  Recommended encoding format: latin1", "keywords": ["Sediment Tracing", "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plan", "15. Life on land", "Sediment Source Fingerprinting", "Sediment transport", "7. Clean energy", "6. Clean water", "FDNPP", "Source-to-Sink", "Japan", "13. Climate action", "11. Sustainability", "Soil erosion", "Sediment", "Soil Erosion"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Chalaux-Clergue, Thomas, Evrard, Olivier, Durand, Roxanne, Caumon, Alison, Hayashi, Seiji, Tsuji, Hideki, Huon, Sylvain, Vaury, V\u00e9ronique, Wakiyama, Yoshifumi, Nakao, Atsushi, Laceby, J. 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