Articles | Volume 7, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-785-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-785-2021
Review article
 | 
25 Nov 2021
Review article |  | 25 Nov 2021

Transformation of n-alkanes from plant to soil: a review

Carrie L. Thomas, Boris Jansen, E. Emiel van Loon, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg

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Cited articles

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Almendros, G., Martin, F., and González-Vila, F. J.: Effects of fire and humic lipid fractions in a Dystric Xerochrept in Spain, Geoderma, 42, 115–127, 1988. 
Almendros, G., Sanz, J., and Velasco, F.: Signatures of lipid assemblages in soils under continental Mediterranean forests, Eur. J. Soil Sci., 47, 183–196, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.1996.tb01389.x, 1996. 
Amblès, A., Jambu, P., Jacquesy, J.-C., Parlanti, E., and Secouet, B.: Changes in the ketone portion of lipidic components during the decomposition of plant debris in a hydromorphic forest-Podzol, Soil Sci., 156, 49–56, https://doi.org/10.1097/00010694-199307000-00007, 1993. 
Andersson, R. A. and Meyers, P. A.: Effect of climate change on delivery and degradation of lipid biomarkers in a Holocene peat sequence in the Eastern European Russian Arctic, Org. Geochem., 53, 63–72, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2012.05.002, 2012. 
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Short summary
Plant organs, such as leaves, contain a variety of chemicals that are eventually deposited into soil and can be useful for studying organic carbon cycling. We performed a systematic review of available data of one type of plant-derived chemical, n-alkanes, to determine patterns of degradation or preservation from the source plant to the soil. We found that while there was degradation in the amount of n-alkanes from plant to soil, some aspects of the chemical signature were preserved.
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