Drought legacy effects on composition of soil fungal and prokaryote communities

We studied how simulated short-term legacies of a drought and/or an extreme rewetting events shape the community composition of soil fungi and prokaryotes. Soil was exposed to an extreme drought, then rewetted to optimal moisture (50% WHC, water holding capacity) or to saturation level (100% WHC). Soil was sampled three weeks after drought and rewetting had been set back to original moisture conditions and stored at -80°C. DNA was extracted and we measured the composition, community structure and diversity of microbes by sequencing the ITS and 16S rRNA gene amplicons.