Data from: Glade creation concentrates herbivory and slows tree recovery in encroached savannas

1. Woody encroachment and thickening (i.e., the expansion of woody plants into grassy ecosystems) is compounding the rapid loss of grasslands and savannas globally. Clearing trees to manage encroachment is often ineffective if it does not restore the processes that limit woody plant recovery. We test whether artificial glades concentrate mesoherbivores and limit woody recovery via local feedbacks.
<br>2. In a South African savanna that has undergone substantial woody thickening, we cut 24 m x 24 m artificial glades into six sites encroached by broad-leaved (Combretaceae) or fine-leaved (Fabaceae) species and coupled them with paired uncut plots. At each plot we set up two paired subplots and fenced (herbivore removal) one to test whether mesoherbivores would concentrate sufficiently to restrict tree resprouting and maintain open glades.
<br>3. We found that browsers and grazers select glades over woodlands when glades are cut into fine-leaved stands, but grazers show lower preference, and browsers do not select, glades cut into broad-leaved stands. After a single growing season, intense browsing on fine- and broad-leaved resprouts kept them below 50-cm and 80-cm, respectively.
<br>4. Synthesis and applications. Managing encroachment using higher-than-current fire intensity/frequency and/or large-scale tree clearing is limited to only well-resourced land managers. In contrast, active glade creation could become a widely applicable and affordable mechanism for land managers to create sustainable forage for grazing and browsing mesoherbivores that support species and functions that are otherwise lost in heavily encroached systems.