Soil nutrient

Here is a research site on soil nutrient dynamics. It was found that soil microbe can produce nitrogen nutrient even under snowpack during cold winter.

Reference:

• Christopher et al. 2008. The effect of soil freezing on N cycling: Comparison of two headwater subcatchments with different vegetation and snowpack conditions in the northern Hokkaido Island of Japan. Biogeochemistry 88: 15-30
• Shibata et al. 2011. Changes in nitrogen transformation in forest soil representing the climate gradient of the Japanese archipelago. Journal of Forest Research 16 374-385