Abstract: A snow-shading experiment was conducted in a broad-leaved Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountains from 2004 to 2007 to observe the soil temperature with and without snow cover. Snow cover played an important buffering role in the change of soil temperature, namely, slowed down the change process of soil temperature. The effect of snow cover on preserving soil heat was quite obvious in shallow soil layer (0-20 cm), and enhanced with increasing snow depth. When the snow depth increased from 10 to 20 cm, the effect enhanced significantly. However, when the snow depth exceeded 30 cm, the increasing trend turned to indistinctive. In the period of snow-melting, soil temperature kept around 0 ℃ for some time, and after then, increased gradually. The length of the period keeping soil temperature around 0 ℃ was determined by snow depth and the duration of snow cover.

Key words: broad-leaved Korean pine forest, snow, soil temperature, Changbai Mountains, forest soil, potentially mineralizable carbon, easily mineralizable carbon, carbohydrate, seasonal dynamics.