"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Dondini, M., Alberti, G., Delle Vedove, G., Ventura, M., Tonon, G., Viger, M., Harris, Z. M., Jenkins, J. R., Richards, M., Pogson, M., Taylor, G., Smith, J. U. and Smith, P. (2017), Evaluation of the ECOSSE model to predict heterotrophic soil respiration by direct measurements. Eur J Soil Sci, 68: 384–393, which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1111/ejss.12416. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."