Providing the best opportunity for island foxes to survive in the wild means understanding how they use resources and interact with other species. Researchers, headed by Brian Cypher, examined the diet of island foxes across all six Channel Islands. Their findings have just been published in Global Ecology and Conservation, 2(2014) 255–66. Their article: “Multi-population comparison of resource exploitation by island foxes: Implications for conservation,” looks at the dietary differences between the six island subspecies, compares seasonal dietary shifts and dependence on introduced species, and recommends considerations for future conservation efforts. (Original paper) The scientists gathered island fox scat across the six islands during four seasons in 2009. The scat samples were analyzed at California State University-Stanislaus’ Endangered Species Recovery Program office in Bakersfield, CA. San Miguel Island deer mouse, courtesy of C. Schwemm The researchers discovered that sixteen species were most frequently found in island fox scat or droppings: Animal Prey - island deer mice, birds, lizards, beetles and beetle larvae, Jerusalem crickets, silk-spinning sand crickets, and grasshoppersPlant Fruits - from toyon, manzanita, prickly pear cactus, and summer hollyIntroduced Species - earwigs, European snails, fruits of ice plant and Australian saltbush toyon fruit, courtesy of K. Dearborn animalbytes.netLike many members of the canine family, island foxes are generalists when it comes to searching for food. They hunt small prey, search out seasonal fruit, but will also eat carrion. To survive on the Channel Islands, island foxes have evolved to exploit all available food resources. The graph below is a simplified comparison of the frequency with which different items appeared in the diet of the six island fox subspecies over a year. (for complete tables and percentages see the original paper, below) Arthropods in the Diet An interesting finding is the importance of numerous insect species. Insect parts constituted a “significant proportion of each scat.” The dark purple band in the graphic above depicts the frequency of insects found in scat on each island. On all six islands, beetles were a primary food item year-round (most identifiable were darkling beetles and ten-lined June beetles). Insect prey offers calorie-rich food for little energy expenditure, making them an efficient food source. In addition there was evidence island foxes occasionally ate cockroaches, dragonflies, butterfly caterpillars, and wasps. European earwigs are now found across North America, including the Channel Islands. This introduced species has become an important food resource for island foxes. Earwigs were a primary food source on San Nicolas, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz, and were an important food source on San Clemente in the spring and on Santa Catalina during the fall and winter. Crustaceans–beach hoppers and various crabs–were occasionally found in scat, demonstrating that some island foxes search for food along shorelines. Introduced European garden snails are now found on several of the Channel Islands and island foxes have included them in their foraging. On the two islands, San Clemente and San Nicolas, garden snails (red band on graphic) have become a primary food resource for island foxes. Vertebrate Prey island fox with 3 deer mice in jaws, courtesy NPSMany people think of foxes as primarily mammal and bird predators. While the island fox does hunt, these larger prey items appeared less frequently in the diet than you might think. The blue band represents the frequency of deer mouse remains and the green band represents the frequency of lizards (on San Clemente and San Miguel) or birds (on Santa Rosa). At a glance you can see that lizards and birds are not primary food sources on three islands and, on all islands, deer mice are less frequently found in the diet than insects. Some additional prey animals were found occa
