Soil microbial community differences drive variation in Pinus sylvestris physiology, productivity, and responses to elevated CO2

Our results show that soil microbial community variation directly affects P. sylvestris physiology, productivity, and responses to eCO₂, and may enhance plant growth through improved nitrogen use efficiency. Surprisingly, growth with different microbial communities even more strongly impacted plant productivity than a doubling of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. The soil microbiome therefore plays a key role in supporting plant nutrition and growth under ambient and eCO₂ conditions, and in turn, may confer increased forest resistance to climate change.