Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Humans are often left out of food web diagrams that map trophic interactions among species in nature. When included, humans are typically placed at the top, yet anthropogenic effects pervade all trophic levels. Here, we show how the ubiquity of human impacts can alter the cascading effects of large carnivores in surprising ways. In particular, humans can mediate triangular interactions such as intraguild predation and apparent competition, which tend to dampen the strength of linear cascades. Impacts of humans on ecosystem productivity via habitat alteration can likewise alter the strength and direction of top-down effects on herbivores and mesopredators. Humans strongly affect carrion abundance across anthropogenic landscapes, with major consequences for scavenging efficiency and the dynamics of scavenger communities. These altered trophic dynamics are playing out in the context of a rapidly changing climate, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and altered abiotic conditions may exacerbate the cascading effects of reduced predator densities. While holistic inclusion of human impacts in food webs introduces a daunting level of complexity, doing so may substantially improve understanding of trophic dynamics in anthropogenic landscapes, and by extension, the success of carnivore conservation efforts therein.</jats:p>