Mother-Infant Relations In Semi-Captive Alaskan Moose (Alces Alces Gigas)

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 197

Responses by grizzly bear population dynamics to certain environmental and biosocial factors

Based on analysis of previously published data, comparison among grizzly populations and among years within the Yellowstone poulation reveal that essentially all parameters of reproduction and recruitment (survivorship - net emigration) were positively correlated with food supply and nutrient-energy balance, but negatively correlated with densities of adult males and females. Although densities of cub litters and of cubs would be positively correlated with density of adults when adults are scarce, all available data is for cases where densities of adults were so high that the correlations were negative—indicating strong density dependence. The forms of density dependence exhibited by Yellowstone grizzlies are exceedingly complex. When density of adult males was high, few cubs were produced, mainly daughters; these cohorts had lew rates of recruitment to adulthood. By contrast, when adult males were scarce, many cub litters and cubs were born, mostly sons; these cohorts had high rates of recruitment to adulthood. There were also negative correlations between recruitment of recently weaned subadults vs. concurrent density of adult males. Those findings are interpreted in terms of competitive reproductive strategies of adult males vs. females. (1) Aggression by adult males against immatures might benefit the males through (a) nutritive value of immatures which are eaten, (b) reducing current and future competition from victims for resources or genetic representation, or (c) increasing opportunities to mate with mothers of the immatures. (2) Fanales might minimize wastage of investment in offspring likely to be killed or prematurely exiled by the adult males. This could explain the negative correlations between (a) number, sex ratio, and recruitment rate (manifesting investment) per offspring vs. (b) adult male abundance and adult sex ratio. (3) The Fisher (1930) and Trivers-Willard (1973) hypotheses, respectively, also predict reciprocal adult-offspring sex ratios and corresponding levels of investment per cohort. Presentation of findings on grizzlies is accompanied by review and analysis of comparative information on black and polar bears. An attempt is made to integrate the bulk of current knowledge on factors governing dynamics of bear populations in order to more clearly reveal its implications for theory and management, and to facilitate development of theoretical stock-recruitment and population models—models in which dynamics are controlled by food supply, densities of adult males and females, adult sex ratio, and age. Although these statistical results should be most applicable to grizzly populations where bears frequently aggregate in large numbers at food concentrations, basic features of the descriptive and theoretical models should be applicable to bear populations in general and perhaps to other taxa

\u3cem\u3eCommentary\u3c/em\u3e Distance-Dependent Effectiveness of Diversionary Bear Bait Sites

We (Stringham and Bryant 2015) previously reported on Bryant’s experiment in diversionary baiting of black bears (Ursus americanus). This occurred during the historically severe drought of 2007, in the Lake Tahoe Basin at the border of California and Nevada, USA. Effectiveness of baiting was inversely related to each community’s distance from the bait site. That has provoked the question whether conflict rates during the period of baiting would have fallen anyway even without baiting. We show here that the general trend during both pre and post-baiting years (2005–2006 and 2008–2009) was for an increase in conflicts during the same months that conflict rate declined during 2007. We also previously reported that, when data were pooled from all 20 communities, total conflicts in the year after baiting were lower than in the year before baiting; there was no backlash after baiting ended. The question has since arisen about whether pooling data across all communities hid backlash in those communities closest to a 2007 bait site – that post-baiting conflict rate was also inversely related to each community’s distance from the nearest bait station. However, our regressions reveal no such relationship between distance versus total annual conflicts in each community during either or both of the 2 years post-baiting (2008–2009)

Optimal bucking : two trials with commercial OSU BUCK software

Trials to achieve optimal bucking were made with updated OSU-BUCK software in an eastern and a western Oregon location during the summers of 1993 and 1994. The commercial version of the software allows tagging of each log with bar-code identification numbers and therefore provides tracking from stump to customer. Data management is enhanced by automatic creation of input and output files in spreadsheet format. The software allows a choice of scaling rules, and accommodates multiple species while increasing measurement accuracy. The trials showed that, as with previous software, preferred-length requirements are a stumbling block to achieving the most effectiveness. Value and volume increases achieved with OSU-BUCK were moderate. Pairing a Log-Quality Technician with a faller appears to be a promising method for users of optimal-bucking software

Macular carotenoid supplementation in subjects with atypical spatial profiles of macular pigment

This study was designed to investigate the impact of macular carotenoid supplementation on the spatial profile of macular pigment (MP) in subjects where the profile does not exhibit the typical central peak (i.e. peaked MP at foveal epicentre). Thirty one healthy subjects with such atypical MP spatial profiles were assigned to one of three intervention groups: Group 1: (n = 10), 20 mg/day lutein (L), 2 mg/day zeaxanthin (Z); Group 2: (n = 10), 10 mg/day meso-zeaxanthin (MZ), 10 mg/day L, 2 mg/day Z; Group 3: (n = 10), 17 mg/day MZ, 3 mg/day L, 2 mg/day Z. Subjects were instructed to take one capsule daily over an 8-week period. MP at 0.25°, 0.5°, 1°, 1.75° and 3° was measured using customized-heterochromatic flicker photometry at baseline, four weeks and 8 weeks. Over the study period, we report no statistically significant increase in MP at any eccentricity in Group 1 (p > 0.05, for all eccentricities). There was a trend towards an increase in MP at all eccentricities in Group 2, with a significant increase found at 0.25° and 0.50° (p = 0.000 and p = 0.016, respectively). There was a statistically significant increase evident in MP at 0.25° in Group 3 (p = 0.005), but at no other eccentricity (p > 0.05, for all other). We report that the typical central peak of MP can be realised in subjects with atypical spatial profiles, following supplementation with a preparation containing all three macular carotenoids, but not with a supplement lacking MZ. The implications of our findings, in terms of visual performance and/or a (photo)-protective effect, warrant additional study

Erratum: Sequence data and association statistics from 12,940 type 2 diabetes cases and controls.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2017.179

New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. These include nine loci newly associated with fasting glucose (in or near ADCY5, MADD, ADRA2A, CRY2, FADS1, GLIS3, SLC2A2, PROX1 and C2CD4B) and one influencing fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (near IGF1). We also demonstrated association of ADCY5, PROX1, GCK, GCKR and DGKB-TMEM195 with type 2 diabetes. Within these loci, likely biological candidate genes influence signal transduction, cell proliferation, development, glucose-sensing and circadian regulation. Our results demonstrate that genetic studies of glycemic traits can identify type 2 diabetes risk loci, as well as loci containing gene variants that are associated with a modest elevation in glucose levels but are not associated with overt diabetes