Nature‐based climate solutions rely on the assumption that restoring plant diversity enhances soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, the persistence of SOC is threatened by the positive priming effects, where fresh plant carbon inputs accelerate the decomposition of native SOC. It remains unclear how increasing plant diversity impacts the soil priming effects. Here, using a natural tree species diversity gradient in...

Plant communities strongly influence soil microbial communities and, in turn, soil carbon (C) cycling. Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is an important parameter for predicting soil C accumulation, yet how plant and soil microbial community traits influence microbial CUE remains poorly understood. Here, we determined how soil microbial CUE is influenced by plant and soil microbial community traits, by studying a natural g...