Positive plant diversity effects on soil microbial drought resistance are linked to variation in labile carbon and microbial community structure

Biodiversity loss and drought are substantially altering both above-and belowground terrestrial ecosystem functioning, but mechanistic understanding of plant diversity effects on the drought resistance of soil microbial biomass remains limited. 
We designed a mesocosm experiment to examine drought resistance of soil microbial biomass along a plant species richness gradient (five plant species richness levels based on old-field communities). We calculated resistance of microbial biomass to drought and recorded key belowground properties which may influence microbial resistance to drought (i.e., microbial diversity, microbial community structure, soil carbon stocks and root biomass). 
Plant species richness had a positive effect on microbial resistance to drought. Variation in microbial resistance to drought was linked to properties of the fungal community in ambient soil (Shannon diversity, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal richness and abundance) but not soil bacterial diversity. Moreover, ..., ,