Data and code from: Microbial life history mediates the drought-induced decrease in wood decomposition in subtropical forests

Progressive intensification of drought regimes worldwide threatens wood
decomposition - a critical biogeochemical process in forest carbon
cycling. However, the interactions between microbial strategies, wood
traits, and microclimate in regulating wood decomposition remain poorly
understood under drought conditions. In a throughfall exclusion experiment
(control, 35%, and 70% rainfall reduction) across 12 tree species, we
found that drought-induced reductions in wood CO₂ efflux rates were
primarily driven by wood traits (density and carbon reduction) and shifts
in fungal K/r-strategies. Coarse wood debris with higher Basidiomycota and
lower Ascomycota abundance decomposed faster. Significant positive
correlations were observed between fungal K/r-strategies and wood CO2
efflux under control, 35%, and 70% rainfall reduction, while bacterial
strategies showed no correlation. Our findings highlight the greater
drought sensitivity of fungi than bacteria, emphasizing their critical
role in forest carbon dynamics and informing carbon models to improve the
prediction of climate-biosphere feedback in the changing world.