FIF 2023 Research Grant to Help Count Island Spotted Skunks

Friends of the Island Fox received a record number of grant applications this year. Funds were awarded to two projects. Today we highlight:

Desirae Thomaier a masters student in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. 

 

Island foxes share their habitat with island spotted skunks on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands. When island fox numbers declined due to golden eagles, island spotted skunk numbers increased dramatically. As island fox populations recovered, skunk numbers appeared to decline. 

While some researchers have attempted to follow island spotted skunks with radio-tracking collars, the spotted skunks small size and seasonal weight fluctuations make it difficult to effectively use radio collars. Prior studies recommended wildlife field cameras as a way to potentially quantify the number of island spotted skunks on each island.

Thomaier's project–Occupancy modeling of Island Spotted Skunks on Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands–will deploy 60 field cameras across each island for a full year.

Hopefully, this effort will provide a better accounting of island spotted skunks numbers and how they are "responding to very high fox abundance."

Island spotted skunks are nocturnal. Interactions between island foxes and island spotted skunks under the cover of darkness. Thomaier's cameras may also uncover additional information about the interactions between these two island carnivores.

The series of three photos below were taken over the course of 8 minutes.

One spotted skunk followed less than a minute later by an island fox.

Followed 7 minutes later by two island spotted skunks.

One skunk is in the upper left corner with the second skunk right on its heels. (photos courtesy of Channel Islands National Park)

What is the story here? We really don't know. Hopefully, Thomaier's research project will help provide a more accurate count of island spotted skunk populations and shine a light on the complicated relationship between these two island predators.

Island spotted skunks may deserve separate species status. FIF Research Grant 2022 recipient Julia Owen will be presenting at the California Island Symposium this week in Ventura.

Fox Foto Friday - Island Fox Science in Progress

What are these? Look closely. These are swabs from island fox ears and backsides being processed in the lab at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.

This is island fox science in progress! FIF 2020 Research Grant recipient Dr. Allie DeCandia updated us on her work investigating the microbiome of island foxes.

"Between July and December 2020, collaborators across all six Channel Islands collected ear canal swabs, anal swabs, and blood samples from 50–60 foxes per subspecies. After collection in the field, these samples were shipped to Princeton University for temporary storage until all samples arrived on the east coast." In March, DeCandia moved the samples to her lab at the Smithsonian. She spent April and May inventorying samples.

"My collaborators did a fantastic job sampling foxes!" DeCandia says. "In total, I inventoried 851 swabs over the course of 23 hyper-focused laboratory hours (which were thankfully not consecutive)."

Processing the samples must be meticulous because she is investigating DNA.

"I sterilized scissors (bleach dunk / water dunk / superheat in a Bacinerator), snipped off the swab tip, placed the swab tip in a sterile microcentrifuge tube, recorded metadata written on the original swab container, and repeated the process for each swab collected."

The coordinating 300+ blood samples are now being inventoried and the individual island fox DNA extracted. DeCandia will spend the summer extracting microbial DNA from the swabs and preparing samples for "microbiome sequencing." Over the fall/winter, she'll be deep in analyzing the data.

"I am ecstatic to be working with so many amazing researchers in the field and in the lab," DeCandia says, "and can't wait to analyze this impressive dataset in the months ahead!"

FIF grant funds are processing the DNA extraction. 

Your donations support this cutting edge research.

If an island fox is an environment for microbes, what was lost when island fox populations declined to just a few individuals? How is an entire species' health impacted if they recover from near extinction, but have lost some of the microbial biodiversity that protected them from bacteria infection or supported healthy digestion? 

Island fox microbiome investigation will help us understand island fox health and may have implications for other endangered species.

Your donations supporting research are an investment in the island fox's long-term survival.

Friends of the Island Fox is taking applications

through August 31 for our 

2021 Research Grant  (see application)

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.

Fox Foto Friday - Island Fox School Project

An island fox, its habitat, diet, behavior and life story.

This wonderful school project was created by a 3rd grade student at Opal Robinson Elementary School in Manhattan Beach.

FIF school presentations will be available on a limited basis beginning in March 2018. 

Teachers - island foxes are a real world entry into math, history, science and ecology. Check out island fox school activities K-12. 

Science and the Island Fox

Get ready to explore, discover and be a scientist. On Oct. 1, 2011 Friends of the Island Fox will join our friends the Santa Barbara Zoo in a day of science fun.

Science Day at the Santa Barbara Zoo

Saturday Oct. 1, 2011

10 AM - 3PM

Included in the price of admission, there will be family friendly activities that focus on science learning. Teachers are encouraged to come and discover activities that meet California state science standards and can be replicated in the classroom. Admission for teachers and their families is FREE with preregistration. Visit the Santa Barbara Zoo website for more information.


Friends of the Island will be exploring the Channel Island fox’s great sense of smell. Why does an island fox nose work better than a human nose? Could you find your way home using only your nose?


Tani, the juvenile island fox, has a brother called Acorn that went exploring. He had to find his way back to the family den using his sense of smell. Follow the adventures of island fox pups born this spring on Facebook and twitter.