Data from a study conducted at the LTER site Stubai in 2018, which aims to compare the drought response of two agricultural grasslands that differ in their resource use strategies. In an experimental garden, 12 small-scale lysimeters were installed with two different agricultural grassland types (conservative and acquisitive) and two different irrigation levels (wet and drought). We measured evapotranspiration (ET), soil water content (SWC), stomatal conductance, phytomass productivity, necromass cover and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AMF) spore abundance and size and pigmentation description in these two grassland types during a 64-day drought.