Conclusions
Our results illustrated that plant-soil feedbacks critically influenced
plant diversity-productivity relationships, likely through the dilution
effects of species-specific pathogens in more diverse communities. We
also found that past drought can result in a soil microbial legacy that
can have subsequent impacts on plant diversity-productivity
relationships. Drying-rewetting scenarios can strengthen complementary
effects while weakening selection effects. Our results highlight the
importance of soil microbial communities in driving plant diversity
effects on ecosystem functioning, and that changes to future rainfall
patterns can have direct and long-lasting effects on
biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships through soil legacies
created by past rainfall patterns and which interacts with plant
diversity and subsequent rainfall.