**1. Introduction**

There has been a focus on the wider ecological effects of large terrestrial carnivores in recent years driven by both the study of ecosystems where they are being reintroduced or are naturally increasing in density [1,2] and where their absence is conspicuous [3]. This focus is largely due to their putative role as ecological keystone species [4] or as strongly interactive species [5]. Although these impacts are not as universal as is often claimed [4,6], there are plenty of examples of large carnivores having cascading effects on the ecosystems of which they are a part [7,8]. These impacts mainly operate through the influence of large terrestrial carnivores on the density, distribution and behavior of their wild ungulate prey, species that have effects on vegetation through diverse mechanisms [3,9,10]. This in turn affects a wide range of other species that respond to the environmental changes [3,11]. Other mechanisms involve the increased availability of carrion to scavengers as a by-product of predation [12–17].

Another pathway through which predation can potentially influence diverse ecosystem functions is through the transfer of nutrients from carnivore-killed prey to soil and then into vegetation [9]. Some studies have shown that this nutrient pulse, although local in extent, can be intense [18–22]. For example, a range of studies have focused on the role of bears, *Ursus* spp., in transferring marine nutrients from anadromous salmon into terrestrial ecosystems [23]. However, the generality of this impact is likely to depend on how much the predator consumes its prey and how much of the remains are consumed or dispersed by scavengers (both micro and macro [24]) as it is only the leachate fluids resulting from invertebrate maggot activity and microbial decomposition that are directly transferred to soil [25]. In addition, nutrients also can originate from dead invertebrates, and excretion from both scavengers and predators feeding on or attracted to the carcass [25,26]. By this mechanism, the impacts of large carnivore predation can cascade through the ecosystem, bridging the divide between aboveand below-ground ecosystems [27]. Moreover, carcasses, by locally reducing herbaceous cover, can influence the early stages of tree reproduction [28]. The impacts of carrion on soil and vegetation parameters are also influenced by temperature and the season of death [29–31].

The aim of our study was to investigate the presence of these cascading effects in a previously unstudied system. For this purpose, we studied a large carnivore (Eurasian lynx, *Lynx lynx*)–ungulate (roe deer, *Capreolus capreolus*) system in the boreal forest of southeastern Norway.

Our predictions were as follows:

