Alcohols in plants and soil as indicators of alpine meadow degradation

Alcohols are an important class of biomarker and are widely used to trace the source of organic matter in soil and sediments. The present study was conducted to investigate the alcohol compositions of typical alpine meadows. The samples of alpine meadow plants and soil were collected, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were carried out. The results showed that the range of alcohol types in the alpine meadow was from 2 to 21, the carbon number was from 4 to 37,and the number of unsaturated alcohols was higher than that of saturated alcohols. 9-Methyl-Z-10-pentadecen-1-ol, (3,5)-2-methylene-Cholestan-3-ol, and 1-Heptatriacotanol were not detected in the non-degraded soil,but were found in the degraded soil. The species of plant and soil alcohols in alpine meadow were as follows: degraded plants > degraded soil > non-degraded plants > non-degraded soil. There was a strong correlation between the alcohols in the plants and those found in the soil (R2=0.871).The distribution characteristics and correlation analysis of plants and soil alcohols showed that alcohols could be used as markers to indicate the degradation of alpine meadow.