Microbial growth better predicts soil carbon than carbon use efficiency

This dataset supports the manuscript “Microbial growth better predicts soil carbon than carbon use efficiency.” It includes observational data derived from global ^18O–H₂O labeling experiments and simulation results from four process-based land surface models (ORCHIDEE-CENTURY, ORCHIDEE-MIMICS, CABLE-CASA, and JULES-RothC). The data encompass microbial traits, soil carbon content, and related environmental variables used in the analyses presented in the study.