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| 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.
2024 Application for FIF Research Grant
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| 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
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 SchamelPOSTER 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
"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
- "Assessing Cementum Annulation in teeth for determining age at death." - Stacy Baker and Juliann Schamel 2021 Findings Reported by Stacy Baker
- Accessing Tick-borne disease in Island Foxes on Catalina Island
2018
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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updated 03/08/2024