Higher plant diversity does not moderate the influence of changing rainfall regimes on plant-soil feedback of a semi-arid grassland

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of severe droughts, but it remains unclear whether soil biotic conditioning by plant communities with varying species richness or functional group diversity moderate plant–soil feedback (PSF)—an important ecosystem process driving plant community dynamics—under altered rainfall regimes. We conducted a two‐phase PSF experiment to test how plant diversity affects biotic PSF under different rainfall regimes. In Phase 1, we set up mesocosms with 15 plant assemblages composed of two grasses, two forbs and two nitrogen‐fixing legumes [one, two, three, or six species from one, two, or three functional group(s)] common to the semi‐arid eastern Eurasian Steppe. Mesocosms were subjected to two rainfall amounts (ambient, 50% reduction) crossed with two frequencies (ambient, 50% reduction) for a growing season (~3 months). Conditioned soil from each mesocosm was then used in Phase 2 to inoculate (7% v/v) sterilised mesocosms planted with the same..., , , # Higher plant diversity does not moderate the influence of changing rainfall regimes on plant-soil feedback of a semi-arid grassland

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm385s](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm385s)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: DIVRAINPSF\_mesolvl\_data.csv

**Description:** Phase 2 mesocosm-level plant biomass and plant-soil feedback data. We conducted a two-phase PSF experiment to test how plant diversity affects biotic PSF under different rainfall regimes. In Phase 1, we set up mesocosms with 15 plant assemblages composed of two grasses, two forbs, and two nitrogen-fixing legumes [one, two, three, or six species from one, two, or three functional group(s)] common to the semi-arid eastern Eurasian Steppe. Mesocosms were subjected to two rainfall amounts (ambient, 50% reduction) crossed with two frequencies (ambient, 50% reduction) for a growing season (~3 months). Conditioned soil from each mesocosm was then use...