Concentrations and Composition of Sphagnum Peat Lipids Depending on Temperature in the Climatic Zones of Western Siberia

Abstract

The composition of n-alkanes; sesqui-, di-, and triterpenoids; steroids; carboxylic acids; and tocopherols of sphagnum peat from the southern, middle, and northern taiga and forest-tundra of Western Siberia was studied by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. It was shown that the latitudinal shift to the north leads to the preservation of the peat lipid components and sufficiently high values of carbon preference index (CPI) close to those of mire plants. This can be caused by a decrease in microbiological activity due to a decrease in the mean annual temperature. Towards the north, the total concentrations of n-alkanes, steroids, pentacyclic triterpenoids, squalene, and tocopherols increased, and a ratio of the total concentration of steroids to the concentrations of pentacyclic triterpenoids and hopanes decreased.