Abstract Ungulates frequently cause damage to human livelihoods, such as agriculture, livestock or forestry. In Sweden, forestry is the dominating land use and is a very important source of income. Moose (Alces alces) browsing commonly causes damage to young forest stands, mainly Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). Factors known to affect the level of moose browsing damage are moose density, forage availability, site productivity, tree species composition, snow depth, and infrastructure. One hypothesis is that the recent recolonization of wolves (Canis lupus) in Sweden may lead to a decrease in browsing damage levels, through an effect of wolf predation on moose density or moose behaviour. We used data from annual moose browsing damage surveys, long-term wolf monitoring, moose harvest statistics, habitat composition, snow depth, and road network to investigate the effect of wolf recolonization on moose browsing damage on Scots pine. Contrary to predicted, wolf territory establishment and duration showed an increase in the level of moose damage on young Scots pine. But, the effect size was small and it is questionable if it can be considered as biologically relevant. Overall, other factors were more important than wolves in explaining browsing damage on pine by moose. Presence and cover of deciduous species increased the occurrence of moose browsing damage on pine but reduced the level of damage. Decreasing snow depth and increasing road density both resulted in a lower level of damage. We suggest that the strong human impact on all trophic levels on the Swedish forest ecosystem through harvest and intense forestry practices is likely to override wolves’ effects on density and behaviour of moose, as well as their potential effects on preferred browsing species for moose.

中文翻译：

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狼的重新定殖是否会影响幼年苏格兰松的驼鹿浏览损伤？

摘要 有蹄类动物经常对农业、畜牧业或林业等人类生计造成损害。在瑞典，林业是主要的土地用途，是非常重要的收入来源。驼鹿 (Alces alces) 觅食通常会对幼林造成损害，主要是苏格兰松 (Pinus sylvestris)。已知影响驼鹿浏览破坏程度的因素是驼鹿密度、草料可用性、场地生产力、树种组成、积雪深度和基础设施。一种假设是，最近瑞典的狼（Canis lupus）重新定殖可能通过狼捕食对驼鹿密度或驼鹿行为的影响导致浏览伤害水平降低。我们使用了来自年度驼鹿浏览损害调查、长期狼监测、驼鹿收获统计、栖息地组成、积雪深度、和道路网络，以研究狼重新定殖对苏格兰松树驼鹿破坏的影响。与预测相反，狼的领地建立和持续时间表明，幼年苏格兰松的驼鹿伤害水平有所增加。但是，效应量很小，是否可以被认为具有生物学相关性是值得怀疑的。总的来说，在解释驼鹿对松树造成的破坏方面，其他因素比狼更重要。落叶树种的存在和覆盖增加了松树上驼鹿啃食的发生率，但降低了损害程度。降低积雪深度和增加道路密度都可以降低损坏程度。