Background and aims <p>Plant functional traits are key parameters of plant adaptation strategies to environmental changes and exhibit strong correlations with microbes. However, the differences in these relationships among plants with different resource strategies, particularly in relation to microbial eco-strategies, are not well understood.</p> Methods <p>We conducted a study on 18 whole-plant traits of 15 species and investigated the soil microbial characteristics across diverse environmental conditions on the eastern Qinghai Tibetan Plateau. To discern the differences between plants with acquisitive strategy (PAS) and those with conservative strategy (PCS), we examined the coordination of traits and their relationships with environmental factors and the soil microbial diversity, composition and life-history strategy.</p> Results <p>15 species adopted different resource strategies: two belonged to PAS, six to PCS, and seven to intermediate-strategy. PAS traits exhibited closer interactions and were more constrained by environmental conditions compared to PCS. Conversely, PCS traits were more closely associated with soil microbial diversity, composition and life-history strategy.</p> Conclusions <p>The differences in the associations of PAS and PCS traits with environmental conditions and microbial communities provides a fresh perspective for understanding diverse performance of plant resource strategies. Our findings indicate that a trait-based framework may be an optimal approach to explore plant–microbe interactions.</p>