Herbivory can have contrasted impacts on soil microbes and nutrient cycling, which has stimulated the development of conceptual frameworks exploring the links between below- and aboveground processes. The “productivity model” predicts that herbivores stimulate microbial activities and accelerate nutrient mineralization in productive ecosystems, while they have an opposite effect in less productive ecosystems. In parallel, the “diet model” predicts that herbivores feeding on conservative plants accelerate nutrient cycling while those feeding on exploitative plants decelerate...