Little is currently known about how long‐term climate changes modulate the relationship between soil organic carbon (SOC) molecular composition, microbial community and SOC storage and the mechanisms involved. Here, we show substantial changes in subsoil SOC in the Qinghai‐Tibetan alpine grasslands over 16 years of soil warming and cooling. Warming reduced SOC content by 8.5%, whereas cooling increased it by 7.0%. Neither warm...

Among ecologists, it is widely believed that conservative growth strategies of plants are crucial for sustaining ecosystem stability, while the potential stabilising role of acquisitive strategies has received little attention. We investigated the relationships between plant traits and three stability dimensions—temporal stability, resistance and resilience—using two complementary datasets from drought‐affected semi‐arid grass...

The intricate mechanisms controlling plant diversity and community composition are cornerstone of ecological understanding. Yet, the role of mycorrhizal symbiosis in influencing community composition has often been underestimated. Here, we use extensive species survey data from 1315 grassland sites in China to elucidate the influence of mycorrhizal symbiosis on plant phylogenetic diversity and community assembly. We show that...