TO FLEE, OR NOT TO FLEE: JUVENILE DISPERSAL AND ADULT EXPLORATORY MOVEMENT PATTERNS IN SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND FOXES | |||
| Ariel A Gonzalez; Institute for Wildlife Studies; agonzalez@iws.org; Hunter J. Cole | |||
Channel island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) are a diminutive mesocarnivore present on six of the eight California Channel Islands. Previous studies on San Clemente Island fox (Urocyon littoralis clementae) movement have primarily focused on movements within an individual’s home range, examining overlap and potential risks for pathogen transmission. Despite understanding fox home range size for short periods of time, we know little about long-distance movements throughout foxes’ lives. Using mark-recapture data from annual grid trapping surveys and opportunistic trapping, we examined fox movements within and between trapping grids to quantify juvenile dispersal and adult movement distances. Of the 1,188 foxes captured in more than one year, 31% had movement distances greater than the previously established nominal ~800-meter home range radius. For adult male-female comparisons, there were no meaningful differences in median distances travelled between capture sites throughout fox lifetimes. Distances between pup capture locations and their subsequent capture locations as adults varied by sex, with the third quartile being 1,588 and 707 meters for males and females, respectively. Continued work on island fox movement ecology is important for better understanding their population dynamics and for evaluating the potential spread of disease. | |||
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