Litter quantity confers soil functional resilience through mediating soil biophysical habitat and microbial community structure on an eroded bare land restored with mono Pinus massoniana

► Litter and soil sampled along slope on an eroded bare land restored with mono forest since 1987. ► Litter quantity correlated with most of the measured biophysical soil properties and soil microbial community structure. ► Litter quantity correlated with the resilience following copper addition and heating. ► Soil functional stability except for the resistance to heating correlated with the soil biophysical properties. ► Soil functional stability except for the resilience to copper addition correlated with the soil microbial community structure.