Long-term deepened snow cover alters litter layer turnover rate in temperate steppes

1. The turnover of litter layer is a biogeochemical process fundamental to carbon and nutrient cycling, influencing seed germination, species coexisting, and carbon storage. Winter snow depth is undergoing increasing trend in Northern China, which has been shown to alter litter decomposition rate of individual species. However, it remains unknown how changes in snow depth affect the turnover rate of the whole litter layer, and whether the responses vary between different steppes. Most current litter decomposition studies are site-based or short-term treated, limiting the exploration of the long-term response of litter layer turnover in regional pattern.

2. In this study, we selected six long-term (11-13 years) snow fence sites in Inner Mongolia, with three in the dry steppe and another three in the wet steppe, and investigated the responses of community-weighted litter residence time (LRT) to long-term increased snow treatment.

3. We found that LRT increased by 0.02 year for every...