The ongoing climate change is predicted to induce more weather extremes such as frequent drought and high-intensity precipitation events, causing more severe drying-rewetting cycles in soil. However, it remains largely unknown how these changes will affect soil nitrogen (N)-cycling microbes and the emissions of potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Utilizing a field precipitation manipulation in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, we examined how precipitation reduction (ca. −30%) influenced soil N2O and carbon...