Abstract Global changes (e.g. climate warming, nitrogen deposition) are known to alter bacterial diversity in soil and the rhizosphere, but their effects on phyllosphere microbes and above–belowground community linkages remain unclear. Using an 18-year temperate desert steppe experiment, we assessed the impacts of warming and nitrogen addition on bacterial communities occupying plant leaves (both epiphytic and endophytic), rhizosphere soil and bulk soil, and their linkages to ecosystem multifunc