Distribution of n-alkyl lipids in particle size fractions of soil with different vegetation cover and under similar environmental conditions: a case study from Lower Gangetic Plain

Kharphuli, Twismary (2021) Distribution of n-alkyl lipids in particle size fractions of soil with different vegetation cover and under similar environmental conditions: a case study from Lower Gangetic Plain. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

	Text (MS Dissertation of Twismary Kharphuli (16MS066)) 16MS066_Thesis_file.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (3MB)
	Text 16MS066_Thesis_file.pdf Download (3MB)

Abstract

Chemical stabilization of organic matter (OM) with clay minerals and protection by occlusion within microaggregates are the important mechanisms responsible for the storage of different OM pools in the soils. Soil lipids constitute an important fraction of OM and are found to be resistant against degradation from post-depositional processes. The hydrophobic properties and high reactivity with polyvalent cations makes the lipids more stable in comparison to other OM pools. Such properties of lipid biomarkers are widely explored to extract the information about different sources and the extent of degradation and/or preservation mechanisms of OM in sediments. Although the lipids are stable across different ecosystems, it has been observed that the difference in vegetation composition, grain size distribution, climatic conditions as well as the mineralogical association can significantly influence the distribution and stabilization of lipid pools in the soil/sediments. However, previous studies emphasizing on the distribution of n-alkyl lipids in soil across different vegetation growth did not include the mineralogical and textural influences on these compounds in the soil. Additionally, relative abundance and composition among different particle size fractions were mostly focused on a particular vegetation composition without any possibility of comparison of lipids produced from different vegetation types and their behavior under similar climatic conditions. The present study emphasizes the importance of vegetation cover and also the micro-environmental variations in controlling the distribution of n-alkyl lipids in the soil from lower Gangetic Plain.

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