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Many savannas are experiencing increased cover of trees and shrubs, resulting in reduced herbaceous productivity, shifts in savanna functional structure and potential reductions in ecotourism. Clearing woody plants has been suggested as an effective management strategy to mitigate these effects and restore these systems to an open state with higher rates of grass production and herbivory. This study investigated the effectiveness of repeated shrub clearing as a tool to mitigate bush encroachment in a semi‐arid savanna in southern Africa.We present data from a 7‐year experiment in the Mthimkhulu Game Reserve bordering Kruger National Park, South Africa. Colophospermum mopane stems and resprouting shoots were basally cut 2–3 times per year (2015–2022) in three pairs of treatment and control plots of 60 × 60 m. We monitored changes in soil moisture, grass biomass and herbivore activity via dung counts. We assessed C. mopane physiological responses to repeated cutting using non‐structural carbohydrates and stable water isotopes to infer changes to energy storage and functional rooting depth, respectively.The cleared treatment had higher soil moisture and grass biomass than the control treatment. Dung counts showed impala and buffalo visited the cleared treatment more frequently than the control treatment.Repeated cutting had limited effects on C. mopane survival in the first 2–3 years after initial clearing, but 80% of individuals were dead after 7 years. Repeatedly cut C. mopane had lower belowground starch concentrations and used water from shallower soil depths than C. mopane in control plots.Synthesis and applications. Repeated cutting increased soil moisture availability and grass biomass, and attracted charismatic grazing herbivores. While more costly than once‐off clearing methods, this practice created more employment opportunities for a neighbouring rural community. Transforming portions of the ecosystem to a grass‐dominated state may increase ecotourism potential through improved game viewing in open systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In savannas, partitioning of below‐ground resources by depth could facilitate tree–grass coexistence and shape vegetation responses to changing rainfall patterns. However, most studies assessing tree versus grass root‐niche partitioning have focused on one or two sites, limiting generalization about how rainfall and soil conditions influence the degree of rooting overlap across environmental gradients.We used two complementary stable isotope techniques to quantify variation (a) in water uptake depths and (b) in fine‐root biomass distributions among dominant trees and grasses at eight semi‐arid savanna sites in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Sites were located on contrasting soil textures (clayey basaltic soils vs. sandy granitic soils) and paired along a gradient of mean annual rainfall.Soil texture predicted variation in mean water uptake depths and fine‐root allocation. While grasses maintained roots close to the surface and consistently used shallow water, trees on sandy soils distributed roots more evenly across soil depths and used deeper soil water, resulting in greater divergence between tree and grass rooting on sandy soils. Mean annual rainfall predicted some variation among sites in tree water uptake depth, but had a weaker influence on fine‐root allocation.Synthesis. Savanna trees overlapped more with shallow‐rooted grasses on clayey soils and were more distinct in their use of deeper soil layers on sandy soils, consistent with expected differences in infiltration and percolation. These differences, which could allow trees to escape grass competition more effectively on sandy soils, may explain observed differences in tree densities and rates of woody encroachment with soil texture. Differences in the degree of root‐niche separation could also drive heterogeneous responses of savanna vegetation to predicted shifts in the frequency and intensity of rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]