After three years, we evaluated the effects of fire and herbivory on tree sapling survival and height increment. We exposed saplings of five common European tree species to fire and herbivory in a full factorial experiment in a savanna‐like wood‐pasture. While extensively studied in savannas, few have explored the effects of these disturbance regimes on woody recruitment under temperate conditions. Without consumer control, many grass‐dominated ecosystems would convert into woodlands or forests. Both are plant consumers that can strongly control the recruitment of woody seedlings and saplings to taller height classes. Fire and herbivory are fundamental top‐down processes, structuring grass‐tree ratios in ecosystems across a diversity of climates.
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