Summary Many studies have investigated patterns in the near‐surface soil microbial community over large spatial scales. However, less is known about variation in subsurface (15–30 cm of depth) microbial communities. Here we studied depth profiles of microbial communities in high‐elevation soils from Tibet. The relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Alphaproteobacteria was higher in near‐surface layers, while the...