Geochemical characteristics of n-alkanes in sediments from oligotrophic and eutrophic phases of five lakes and potential use as paleoenvironmental proxies

•We evaluated the reliability of n-alkane proxies for recording nutrient changes in lakes.•Common proxies such as short-chain n-alkane abundances were useful in relatively eutrophic lakes.•Most proxies failed in relatively oligotrophic lake due to influence from submerged macrophytes.•CPI15–20 and n-C17/n-C16 alkane can record nutrient changes in all kinds of lakes.•CPI15–20 and n-C17/n-C16 alkane had a potential to keep constant during OM diagenesis.