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.

Investigating island fox genetics at USC

 

 

2025 Application for FIF Research Grant  

 

Current FIF Research Grant Recipients

2024

Transcriptomics of Channel Island Fox through RNA-seq - Kimberly Schoenberger

 

 

 

Exploring founder contributions from the captive island fox breeding programs for Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands using genomic sequencing - Elisabeth Leung

 

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

• 2021 Update - microbiome
• Published Paper: Ear mite infection restructures otic microbial networks in conservation–reliant Santa Catalina Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae)
  

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 Paper:  Diet 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

• Epidemic Disease Threats to Island Fox
• Island fox diet (summary) - B. Cypher, et al, "Multi-population comparison of resource exploitation by island foxes: Implications for conservation" Global Ecology and Consensus, 2 (2014) 255-266
• Mitochondrial DNA & evolution on Channel Islands (summary) - C. A. Hofman, et al, "Mitochondrial Genomes Suggest Rapid Evolution of Dwarf California Channel Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis)" PLOSone, 10:e0118240
• Prevalence of cancer among Catalina Island foxes (summary) - T.W. Vickers, et al, "Pathology and Epidemiology of Ceruminous Gland Tumors among Endangered Santa Catalina Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) in the Channel Islands, USA" PLoS ONE, 10(11):e0143211
• Controlling cancer risk factors in Catalina Island foxes (summary) - M.E. Moriarty, et al, "Ear Mite Removal in the Santa Catalina Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis catalinae): Controlling Risk Factors for Cancer Development." PLos ONE, 10(12):e0144271
• Microbes contribute to ear mites and cancer risk in Catalina Island foxes (summary) - A. Candia, et al, "Ear mite infection is associated with altered microbial communities in genetically depauperate Santa Catalina Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae)" Molecular Ecology Dec. 10, 2019 
• Home Range Territory (summary) - E.M. Drake, et al., "Home-range size and habitat selection by male Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis) in a Low-Density Population." The Southwestern Naturalist 60(2-3):247-288. 2015

 

Other Island Fox Research 

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

 

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

updated 03/14/2024