I am interested in understanding biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, especially how species interact with each another and their place in the ecosystem. I did my master thesis (MSc. thesis) in the subtropical tree Biodiversity Ecosystem Functioning experiment (BEF China). During my thesis, I was focusing on tree species interaction effects on soil microbial properties such as microbial biomass and microbial respiration. I was investigating small-scale drivers of microbial biomass such as soil moisture, depth or root biomass. This work is part of the Rémy Beugnon’s Ph.D. in the international research training group TreeDì.