Data package for: Drought-Induced Accumulation of Root Exudates Supports Post-drought Recovery of Microbes in Mountain Grassland

In this grassland mesocosm study we used 13C pulse-chase labeling to investigate the link between plant and soil microbial processes during drought and recovery. Our results indicated that, despite reduced plant carbon assimilation, roots continued to exudate easily degradable organic carbon into soil at severe drought. We observed that plant-derived carbon accumulated in the rhizosphere, likely due to limited substrate diffusion in dry soil and microbial stress responses reducing carbon cycling. Shortly after rewetting the mesocosms, the link between plants and soil microorganisms fully recovered and previously accumulated plant-derived carbon in the rhizosphere disappeared. We conclude that the drought-induced accumulation of root exudates supports the post-drought recovery of soil microorganisms.