Friends of the Island Fox Research Grant 2025

Friends of the Island Fox 

is currently accepting applications through June 15 

for the FIF 2025 Research Grant

 

Download Grant Application

In 2025, Friends of the Island Fox is offering up to $7,000 in support to research projects benefiting greater understanding of the island fox and the Channel Island ecosystem.

From the genetic impacts of near extinction and specific genetic influences on health to drought impacts on fox diet and counting island spotted skunks, FIF supports research to improve the understanding of island fox survival and the complexity of the Channel Island ecosystem.

See prior grant winning projects.

It's all Science for Fox Sake!

 

Scientific data is vital for making informed conservation decisions. Your donations help gather scientific knowledge and build the next generation of scientists and field biologists. 

FIF Research Grant 2023

Friends of the Island is taking applications through August for the

FIF 2023 Research Grant

Download APPLICATION

From dietary investigation linked with territory use to microbes affecting island fox health, new science is revealing the complex world of island foxes and the Channel Island ecosystem.

This year FIF will be offering up to $7,000 in support toward research projects benefiting greater understanding of island foxes and the Channel Islands.

Last year's grant project is working to reveal the Spotted Skunk Genome and how the island spotted skunk is related to mainland populations.

Island spotted skunk origins may help support evolving information on how island foxes initially arrived on the Channel Islands.

More on current and past FIF Funded Research

FIF grant winners are asked to provide public updates on their work. 

See presentations by Fox Researchers for "Date with a Fox" programs

Recently published island fox science

Important island fox research is funded by DONORS LIKE YOU.

It's Science for Fox Sake! 

 

FIF Research Grant Deadline for 2022 Approaches

 

Small pieces of island fox whisker can reveal big data on island fox diet and behavior. 

Analyzing stable isotopes in slivers of island fox whisker, Juliann Schamel (Research grant recipient 2018 and 2019) has been uncovering the range of diet eaten by island foxes, drought impacts on their diet, and a new understanding of how some island foxes use marine resources.

Your scientific research could also benefit island fox survival and the management of rare and endangered species.

Friends of the Island Fox is accepting applications for the 2022 Island Fox Research Grant through August 29, 2022. 

Application 

More about current island fox research and recent grant recipients.

Your donations help support vital island fox research. 

GPS Tracking Collars vs Radio Telemetry Collars

Radio telemetry collars are used across the Channel Islands to monitor island fox survival. These collars help biologists locate an island fox in real time and they give a specific signal when a fox is alive and moving around. 

Fifty to sixty island foxes on each island wear radio telemetry collars. Most of these are sentinel foxes. FIF funds radio collars to monitor island foxes.

GPS tracking collars record exact GPS coordinates. They have an additional antenna (that black bump at the top). Location data is recorded at designated times or time intervals over a specific amount of days, weeks, or months.

See the GPS data comparing island fox movement and island spotted skunks on the same hillside.

"Date With a Fox" May 1, 2022 Brian Cypher, Ph.D., Director and Research Ecologist CSU Stanislaus' Endangered Species Recovery Program talks about how GPS data provided important information on endangered San Joaquin kit foxes and how this same technology can benefit island foxes.

 

Friends of the Island Fox is supporting two research projects starting this summer to investigate island fox territory and habitat use on Santa Rosa Island. 

Katie Elder will replicate a GPS investigation of island fox territory size that was initially done when the population was under 400 individuals. Will territory size be different with the current estimated 2600 island foxes? Have these foxes reached the island's carrying capacity?

Juliann Schamel will also track island fox movement and territory size with GPS collars. She'll integrate her findings on diet with how individual island foxes are moving in the environment. Do all island foxes have access to beach resources or are there distinct areas and resources used by individual island foxes?  

In combination, this will be the largest investigation of island fox movement and territory size ever initiated. 

Your donations make this important research possible. 

Please consider donating today

FIF Taking Applications for 2022 Research Grant

This is a GPS radio collar being prepped to be worn by an island fox this summer. Katie Elder was FIF's 2021 Research Grant recipient and she will be investigating territory size on Santa Rosa Island. More on her work

Friends of the Island Fox is taking applications for our 2022 FIF Research Grant now through August 29, 2022.

Application

What will you uncover about island foxes?

Research in island fox ecology is an investment in the future and island fox survival. Not only is this work important for island foxes and the Channel Islands, but also for other endangered species with small population sizes in confined geographic habitats. An island doesn't have to be surrounded by water, it can be a confined habitat surrounded by desert, a city, or some other physical barrier.

Population viability calculations used for island foxes have been applied to the Sierra Nevada red fox.

See more on Current FIF Funded Research Projects

Recently published island fox discovery 

Discussion on island foxes and island spotted skunks

Update on island fox microbiome research

Fox Foto Friday - A Slice of Fox Science

What is it?

 

This is a microscope slide with thin slices from the canine tooth of a deceased island fox. 

Researchers Stacy Baker and Juliann Schamel are looking at these thin slices through a canine tooth to see if they can discern annual growth layers. If so, this could provide an accurate way to age island foxes at death. Why is that important?

The sample slides from individual island foxes have come back from the lab in Montana. See more on the process and the annual layers.

Baker and Schamel will be analyzing the specimen slides from individuals with known ages. If the layers align with known ages, they will look at the specimens from individuals like M152 to try and determine how old these individual foxes were at death.

This important work is funded by Friends of the Island Fox through a grant from Safari West.

More about island fox research funded by Friends of the Island Fox and donors like you.

2020 FIF Research Grant recipient 

What We Do - FIF Research projects

FIF Research Grant to Investigate Diversity of Island Fox Microbiome

Friends of the Island Fox is happy to announce Alexandra DeCandia, Ph.D. is the recipient of FIF's 2020 Research Grant.

You may remember DeCandia's article from April 2020 regarding her doctoral work at Princeton University: Mites, Microbes, and Cancer in Santa Catalina Island Foxes. Microbes can be found on the skin, in the digestive system, and in connection with the body's openings.

A healthy animal has a diversity of microbes. In this way, a single island fox is like an island. If something should happen to the biodiversity of microbes on an individual, the ecosystem on that individual might become out of balance. Some microbes might thrive, while others perish. An imbalance of microbes can impact an animal's overall health.

When island foxes on a specific island go through a near-extinction population bottleneck, there is a potential for a loss of microbe diversity that can be passed on to surviving island foxes. 

DeCandia investigated if there was a connection between the diversity of microbes on Catalina Island foxes and an unusual prevalence of cancer in this subspecies.

Looking into island fox ear canal

What she found was "evidence of disrupted microbial communities in mite-infected ear canals that may contribute to sustained inflammation." Inflammation can play a role in cancer and this microbial imbalance may be connected to why Santa Catalina Island foxes are the only island foxes known to develop cancerous tumors in their ear canals.

DeCandia's work was published in Molecular Ecology and when she presented her findings at the Annual Island Fox Conservation Working Group Meeting in May of this year, everyone was intrigued. A healthy microbial biome is vital to healthy digestion, immune response to disease, behavior, and even development. Because island foxes on five islands have been through population bottlenecks, where the number of surviving individuals was very low, there is a potential that island foxes on other islands may have disrupted microbial communities as well.

As island foxes are counted and given health checks across the islands this year, they are also getting swabbed for microbes in their ear canals and at their anuses. DeCandia describes the process as "similar to cleaning your ears with a cotton swab, except you don't throw away the swab afterwards." The swab samples will be sent to DeCandia at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.

 

 

DeCandia in the lab

FIF Research Grant funding will be used to extract DNA samples and process DNA sequencing to identify the various microbes in island fox ear canals and digestive systems. 

This investigation provides a unique opportunity to do comparative analyses between subspecies of island foxes on different islands. DeCandia hopes to:

1. survey variation of microbes within island foxes on each island
2. characterize the differences between islands
3. identify the drivers of ear canal tumors on Santa Catalina Island
   

This work is at the cutting edge of science and may have important consequences for the long term survival of the island fox.

If you are an FIF donor, 

you are making this important work possible.

 

If you haven't donated yet, Please Donate 

This is Science, For Fox Sake!

 

Good News for Island Foxes From Tick-Testing Research

tick on island fox's lower eye lid

When can you put the words "tick" and "good news" in the same sentence? When test results come back negative!

In 2017, the occurrence of Lyme disease, and a related tick-borne disease, on a few Channel Islands raised concerns for island foxes and people. Working with the Catalina Island Conservancy and Channel Islands National Park, Friends of the Island Fox received a grant from the Fresno Chaffee Zoo Wildlife Conservation Fund to investigate parasites threatening island fox health.

tick sample ready to go to the lab

small tick on the back of island fox ear

Throughout the summer and fall of 2018, tick samples were collected from island foxes on Catalina Island by CIC biologists. These samples went to Northern Arizona University for analysis. 

A total of 159 ticks (mostly western black-legged ticks, Ixodes pacificus) were analyzed and NONE were found to be carrying Lyme disease (Borrelia spp. burgdorferi) or Anaplasmosis (Anaplasma phagocytophilum).

This is fantastic news for island foxes and for people visiting Catalina. The finding also provides a baseline for the future in case an occurrence of either disease occurs on Catalina Island.

Research and data-based conservation is keeping island foxes safe. Your donations help FIF advance scientific knowledge about island foxes and their ecosystem.

Friends of the Island Fox is accepting applications for our 

2020 Research Grant through August 31, 2020. 

For more information and an application form

What Can We Learn From An Island Fox Tooth?

How do we estimate the age of island foxes? In the past, age has been estimated by visible wear on the first upper molars. This method is imprecise because island foxes have varying diets and sand may be consumed while island foxes are foraging. Sand can add excessive wear to teeth. A two-year old fox living along a shoreline or in a dune area, may have more wear to its teeth than a five-year old fox living in an island's interior.

male canine tooth from Santa Rosa Island

Friends of the Island Fox is excited to fund research into a scientific technique, which may determine the age of a fox after it has died. A donation from Safari West has enabled FIF to fund a second research project this year with investigators: Stacy Baker and Juliann Schamel.

What Is the Research?

Most wild mammal teeth annually add a layer of a hardened substance called cementum along a tooth's root. When the tooth is divided horizontally, rings of the layers become visible. Counting these rings can provide the animal's age at the time of death. Baker and Schamel will work with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the University of CA, Davis, to analyze canine teeth from deceased island foxes. Analyzing tooth samples from island foxes with known ages at the time of death will help verify the methodology.

Why Is It Important?

An island fox that dies when it is 9 or 10 years old is a mature adult. It probably has had an opportunity to reproduce and pass on its genetic diversity. An island fox that dies when it is 2 or 3 years old is still a young adult. It may not have had the opportunity to successfully reproduce. To make the best long-term conservation decisions, it is important to understand the age of island foxes at their death. 

If this technique works for island foxes, it will provide valuable data to inform a variety of questions:

• How does tooth wear vary from island to island?
• Which age group of island foxes are most likely to be hit by cars on populated islands?
• Is there a difference in lifespan between males and females?
• Is lifespan different from island to island?
• Can this method identify when the lifespan of a specific island fox population is changing?

This last question is very important. If young foxes become the largest group suffering moralities or if the lifespan on a specific island begins declining, investigation and conservation efforts are needed immediately.

Friends of the Island Fox is committed to research that will expand understanding of island fox biology and behavior. The more we know about island foxes, the more we can protect their future.

This research is entirely funded by donations. 

Your donations make a difference.

More Island Fox Research:
FIF Research Grant - Whisker Isotopes 2019
FIF Research Grant - Whisker Isotopes 2018

Other Island Fox Research Papers

FIF Research Grant to Investigate Further Into Island Fox Diet

Friends of the Island Fox is happy to announce that Juliann Schamel's research investigating island fox diet through stable isotopes in whisker samples has been chosen to receive the FIF Research Grant for 2019. 

an island fox stash of deer mice

This second year of support will enable analysis of additional data sets to identify seasonal dietary items during drought and important to successful reproduction. It has long been believed that deer mice are a vital food item during breeding and pupping season. Is it true? Does availability to a specific food source influence successful reproduction? If island foxes do not have accesses to abundant deer mice are they less successful as parents?

The grant will also expand the study to look at island fox use of marine resources. Do island foxes use marine foods during drought? If so, which island foxes are able to make use of marine resources?

Island fox whiskers provide an amazing record of what an individual island fox has been eating over 5–6 months. All food items are made up of carbon and nitrogen, but each kind of food has a different balance of elements and therefore a different signature. These individual isotope signatures are recorded in the fox's whisker. More on Schamel's initial research.

Schamel's initial whisker data set went to the lab this spring. At the Center for Stable Isotopes at the University of New Mexico, each individual whisker is divided into tiny sections and processed in a mass spectrometer.

An island fox that eats the same kind of food (all deer mice or all plant fruit) for a period of time will show an isotope graph that is fairly flat. The mixture of carbon to nitrogen will remain the same. But if an island fox changes up its diet dramatically, a spike will appear in the graph showing a change in the isotopes laid down in the whisker.

Comparing these results for known individual island foxes, living in known habitats, will provide valuable data on how sustained drought impacts island fox diet and how diet impacts their ability to survive and thrive.

The FIF Research Grant is completely funded by YOU. Without your donations to FIF this research would still be a dream. 

Donate today to support island fox conservation research.

Thank you to all of the 2019 grant applicants for sharing your research goals with FIF. There is so much more to learn about island fox health, behavior, and interactions with other species.

Applications for the 2020 Research Grant
will be available April 15, 2020

  

FIF Funds Important Health Investigations for Island Foxes

Why are these biologists smiling? Because you are helping island foxes.

Mike Watling (FIF) presents funds to Lara Brenner (CIC) and Laura Shaskey (CINP)

At the annual meeting of the Island Fox Conservation Working Group, Mike Watling, a member of the Friends of the Island Fox Advisory Committee, presented FIF donations to support important investigations into the health of island foxes.

$3,000 to the Fox Program at Catalina Island Conservancy

tick attached to fox lower eyelid

This funding will test a second year of tick samples to determine the threat to island foxes from Lyme disease introduced to several islands in 2018. More on tick-borne disease testing. 

It also represents support from a Fresno Chaffee Zoo Wildlife Conservation grant that will analyze blood samples from island foxes on Catalina for signs of introduced disease. Once again a stow-away raccoon was recently stopped before hopping from a private boat to Catalina Island. Introduction of new diseases via pets and transported wildlife continue to be a problem for all islands, but especially Catalina. In 2018, blood samples revealed for the first time that a small number of Catalina Island foxes were exposed to a form of canine herpes virus. This important testing also detected exposure to a common dog illness, Coronavirus. 30% of the tested island foxes had been exposed to Coronavirus. Fortunately, no island foxes are known to have died from this disease.

$2,000 to the Fox Program at Channel Islands National Park
Intestinal parasites are causing early deaths among island foxes on San Miguel Island. This funding is part of a multi-pronged investigation to understand why and how new parasites are plaguing foxes on this island and why well-known parasites are causing greater impacts on San Miguel Island foxes. (see other ways FIF is helping this investigation)  

When you donate to FIF 

your donations go right to work helping island foxes.

  

Island Fox Whiskers Go to the Lab

Schamel with island fox pup

FIF Research Grant recipient Juliann Schamel has been collecting island fox whiskers to study the diet of island foxes through stable isotope analysis. Her research project is in conjunction with Dr. Seth Newsome and the Center for Stable Isotopes at the University of New Mexico.

Juliann says "Once I learned how stable isotope ecology works and what we could learn about island fox ecology from this method...I was hooked. The invisible chemical world can reveal fascinating connections within food webs and beyond." More on stable isotopes

"This year, with the support of Friends of the Island Fox and [another conservation fund], we are able to investigate a variety of conservation-geared questions about island fox diet on San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands. We are looking into how diet differs among habitats on the islands, among demographic groups, and between island fox and island skunk. We are also assessing if and how fox diet has changed over time (2010–present) in response to things like density changes in the fox population and rainfall (drought conditions). This last question may have important implications for the ecology of the acanthocephalan worm, a novel parasite that appeared in the San Miguel Island fox in 2012 (at the beginning of the drought) and has spread through the fox population."

The spiny-headed worm, a species of Acanthocephala, has been implicated in the low population numbers on San Miguel in recent years. Parasite threatening San Miguel Island Fox.

"By using whisker samples that are linked to a known individual with a known history within the island fox monitoring program," Schamel says, "we are able to track the diet of individuals over time to see if and how their diet may have fluctuated during the drought or as they moved to a new habitat."

A number of whisker specimens were collected this winter, including in the beach/dune habitat on Miguel and Rosa where island foxes are not typically counted. This will provide data on dietary resources in the marine adjacent habitat that has not been collected before. Schamel says "I am very excited to run these samples!"

Collected whisker samples are sorted, inventoried, and cataloged. Once they are cleaned, rinsed, and dried, each individual whisker is placed in vial.

Newsome and his lab manager at UNM use a razor and tweezers to divide each whisker into sub-samples: 0.2mg (weighed precisely with a micro-scale).

Schamel explains these sub-samples are fed into "the mass spectrometer, which consumes the samples and spits out data on carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios." The ratios are compared to a library of food resources and their known isotope ratios. "The FIF funding is actually paying the mass spectrometer for its time."

Schamel in the field on Santa Rosa Island.

So far ~100 island fox samples from Santa Rosa have been analyzed from a variety of habitats. In addition ~200 island fox whisker samples from San Miguel have been analyzed from 2010–2012, before the drought. Schamel will be at UNM this spring working on samples from 2014–2016. "There are many samples from the same individuals across this time frame, which will be exciting to see!"

Juliann Schamel hopes to present preliminary data at the 2019 Island Fox Conservation Working Group Meeting in May. 

Research like Juliann Schamel's is vital to understanding island fox health and long-term survival.  This research is only possible with donations from people like you.

Applications for the 2019 Friends of the Island Fox Research Grant will be available on islandfox.org on April 15, 2019.