ACTIVITY PATTERNS, FORAGING ECOLOGY, AND SUMMER RANGE CARRYING CAPACITY OF MOOSE (ALCES ALCES SHIRASI) IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO

To ensure sustainable populations of native animals and plants, managers of protected areas must understand carrying capacity of large wild herbivores. Estimates of carrying capacity and how large herbivores may influence native vegetation require knowledge of their activity and forag­ing patterns. Therefore, we examined activity patterns and foraging behavior of adult male moose (Alces alces shirasi) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado by following individual animals and counting bites during the summer and fall of 2003 and 2004. Mean active time per day peaked in late June at 11.3 h and declined to 8.9 h in early fall preceding the breeding season. Moose averaged 6.7 feeding periods/d, each lasting 79 min; feeding bouts were longer around sunrise and sunset and were shorter midday presumably because of high ambient temperature. Activities associated with feeding and resting constituted 94.0% of daily time budgets. Feeding declined and social behavior and move­ment increased in fall with the onset of the breeding season. Food consumption increased steadily through early summer peaking at 126.8 g/kg BW0.75 in early August, followed by a sharp decline to a low of 69.1 g/kg BW0.75 in early September. Daily digestible energy intake was estimated at 1191 kJ/kg BW0.75/d. Maximum rates of instantaneous intake were recorded in early August at 22.3 g/min. Because intake rates of willow (Salix spp.) increased from June-August, but nutritional quality peaked in mid-June, increases in daily and instantaneous intake rates during summer seemed more related to forage availability than protein and energy content of willow leaves. The nutritional carrying capacity of summer range in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2004 was estimated from the range supply of metabolizable energy, digestible energy, and available nitrogen. Based on the digestible energy intake and energy requirements of a 344 kg male moose, the summer range carrying capacity was estimated at 0.21 moose/km2. Nitrogen based estimates were considerably higher at 0.32 moose/km2

SUMMER DIET COMPOSITION OF MOOSE IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO

Summer diet composition of habituated adult moose (Alces alces) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, was determined using direct observations and fecal analysis. Direct observations determined moose ate 20 different plant species, including 6 willow (Salix spp.) species, which comprised 91.3% of the overall diet from June through mid-September. Geyer willow (Salix geyeriana) accounted for 45.1% of summer diets. Other species included mountain alder (Alnus incana, 2.5%), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides, 1.1%), and bog birch (Betula glandulosa, 1.0%). Aquatic plants accounted for 1.9%, forbs 1.1%, and grasses 0.9%. Moose ate 11 different species of woody browse, which comprised 96.9% of the diet. Species diversity in the diet peaked in July with 18 different species, including 7 species of non-woody browse. Fecal analysis showed moose consumed 79.3% willow; 11.9% less than direct observations indicated. Fecal analysis identified Carex spp. as a major contributor to moose summer diets (8.7%); a genus not identified by direct observation. Fecal analysis could not identify forbs, willow, or other shrubs to the species level, but identified all major genera (> 1%) contributing to moose summer diets that were indicated by direct observations, except quaking aspen (1.1%)

Effects of once-weekly exenatide on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo