Island Fox Research

Collecting an island fox whisker sample

Friends of the Island Fox supports research to understand island fox health, behavior, and role in the Channel Island ecosystem. Science is vital to informing conservation needs and choices.

Applications for 2024 will be available March 22 

Island fox being swabbed for microbiome research

Current FIF Research Grant Recipients

2023 


Occupancy modeling of Island Spotted Skunks on Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands
–Desirae Thomaier

 

 

From Microbes to Habitats: How individual fox foraging behavior cascades through an ecosystem - Alexandria De Candia, Ph.D. and Juliann Schamel 

 

2022 


Spotted skunk genome project
- Julia Owen

 

 

 

2021


Density-dependent habitat selection and home range sizes in a recovering population of Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis) on Santa Rosa Island, California - Kathleen Elder


2020


The host-associated microbiome and disease in Channel Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis)
- Alexandra De Candia

Smaller grants

Continuing "A Decade of Seasonal Dietary Resource Use in Channel Island Fox..." - Juliann Schamel 
POSTER presented at California Island Symposium: Using Stable Isotopes to Assess a Decade of Dietary Resource Use in Two Sympatric Island Endemics: The Island Fox and the Island Spotted Skunk (link to complete poster)
 
Examining temporal niche and movement patterns of the island fox (Urocyon littoralis) and the island spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis amphiala) on Santa Cruz Island, CA - Calypso Gagorik and Victor Zhang

 

Calypso Gagorik MS Biology Thesis Paper 

Spacial Use Patterns And Management Recommendations For Two Endemic California Channel Island Mesocarnivores, The Island Spotted Skunk (Spilogale gracilis amphiala) and the Island Spotted Skunk (Urocyon littoralis)

2019


"A Decade of Seasonal Dietary Resource Use in Channel Island Fox: Implications for Reproduction, Recruitment, and Resilience in a Changing Climate." - Juliann Schamel 

POSTER presented at 2022 Wildlife Society Conference

Published PaperDiet of an endemic fox reveal variation in sandy beach resource use on California Channel Islands

Smaller grants

  1. "Assessing Cementum Annulation in teeth for determining age at death." - Stacy Baker and Juliann Schamel  2021 Findings Reported by Stacy Baker
  2. Accessing Tick-borne disease in Island Foxes on Catalina Island 

2018

"The Channel Island Food Web–A Decade of Dietary Resource Use in Channel Island Fox: Implications for Reproduction, Recruitment, and Resilience in a Changing Climate." - Juliann Schamel


Other Published Research on Island Foxes

 

Other Island Fox Research 

"Uncovering the Impacts of Population Decline on Disease and Immunity in Island Foxes" - Nicole Adams (Summary article)

 

Your Donations to Friends of the Island Fox 

help fund research to ensure the island fox's continued survival

updated 03/08/2024