DENSITY-DEPENDENT HABITAT SELECTION AND HOME RANGE SIZES IN A RECOVERING POPULATION OF ISLAND FOXES (UROCYON LITTORALIS) ON SANTA ROSA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

Katie Elder; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; kaelder@calpoly.edu; Juliann Schamel, John Perrine, Brian Cypher, Tim Bean

The island fox (Urocyon littoralis) is endemic to the California Channel Islands. Over the past thirty years the species experienced a dramatic population decline to near extinction followed by rapid recovery. These drastic fluctuations in population size make the island fox an excellent candidate for studying the effects of density on home range size and habitat selection. In 2010, when density was historically low, researchers on Santa Rosa Island used GPS collars to document male fox home ranges on the eastern portion of the island. Beginning in 2022, with the fox population now at carrying capacity, we tracked the locations of 15 adult male foxes using GPS collars in a similar study area to compare their home range size, characteristics and overlap. Preliminarily, we have found that island foxes display density dependent effects on home range size. Fox home ranges were significantly smaller at higher population density. We also found that island foxes exhibit minimal home range overlap regardless of population density. Due to the inability of island species to disperse as their population increases, understanding density dependent effects on island fox home ranges is especially important for informing management decisions for this iconic species.

Channel Islands Conservation   Student Paper