Does wolf presence reduce moose browsing intensity in young forest plantations?

Large carnivores can be a key factor in shaping their ungulate prey’s behavior, which may affect lower trophic levels. While most studies on trade-offs between food acquisition and risk avoidance by ungulate prey species have been conducted in areas with limited human impact, carnivores are now increasingly returning to highly anthropogenic landscapes. Many of these landscapes are dominated by forestry, and ungulate-forestry conflicts are an increasing issue. The aim of this study was to test if the indirect effects of a re-colonizing large predator, the wolf (Canis lupus), results in a change in browsing intensity by moose (Alces alces) in young forest plantations in a boreal forest in Sweden. We selected 24 different forest plantations, with 12 located in low-wolf and 12 in high-wolf utilization areas. In each plantation, we measured browsing intensity, tree height, tree density, distance to the closest forest edge and we counted the number of moose pellet groups. In contrast to our p...