*2.2. Snow Manipulation*

Three long-term sites (as three replicates; 3579–3582 m a.s.l., 500–2000 m apart) were established in this alpine forest in 2009 with similar topographies and canopy covers so that similar snowfall and litter fall were received. Each site consisted of four plots: two plots located in an open canopy to simulate full snow cover (control) and two plots located in a closed canopy to simulate reduced snow cover [22] (*n* = 6). This experimental design was used to decrease the risk of needle litter (fir, cypress and larch) escaping from litterbags, which must have sufficiently large mesh sizes to permit soil fauna access [23]. Each plot had five subplots (3 m × 3 m in size and 3–4 m apart) for incubating the five dominant foliar litters with different initial qualities (Table 2). The snow depth was manually measured in triplicate in each control and reduced snow cover plot (*n* = 18) at each sampling date. The temperatures at the litter surface were recorded using data loggers (iButton DS1923-F5, Sunnyvale, CA, USA), which were placed in marked litterbags in each plot (*n* = 6). A freeze–thaw cycle was defined as a transition above or below 0 ◦C for at least 3 h and then a transition back according to hourly temperature data [37].
