The quote shows that the author believes that the absence of wolves has turned the Elks into an inharmonious and troublesome element in nature.
We can come to this answer because:
This disharmony is shown in the sentence presented in the question above, where the author shows that in the absence of wolves, the Elks become a type of pest, causing problems, due to the disorder in the food chain.
You can have more information about the food chain at the link below:
https://brainly.com/question/16065961?referrer=searchResults