Biogeographic distributions of microbial ecological clusters structured by environmental conditions drive residues decomposition at the continental scale

Bacteria and fungi drive residues decomposition, a fundamental process in the terrestrial carbon cycle, yet the mechanism by which environment indirectly regulate decomposition via microbial communities at the continental scale remains unclear. By collecting agricultural soils from adjacent pairs of upland and paddy fields along a latitude gradient, we conducted a microcosm experiment with 13C-labeled maize residues to disentangle environmentally mediated indirect effects.