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Survival and cause-specific mortality of gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in southern California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2005

Veronica Farias ,
Todd K. Fuller ,
Robert K. Wayne  and
Raymond M. Sauvajot
Veronica Farias
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources Conservation, 160 Holdsworth Way, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-9285, U.S.A.
Todd K. Fuller
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources Conservation, 160 Holdsworth Way, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-9285, U.S.A.
Robert K. Wayne
Affiliation:
Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Box 951606, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, U.S.A.
Raymond M. Sauvajot
Affiliation:
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, National Park Service, 401 Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, U.S.A.
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Abstract

From May 1997 to July 1999, 24 gray foxes Urocyon cinereoargenteus were radio-marked and their fates monitored in a natural area of southern California to identify rates of survival and cause-specific mortality, and thus to assess population sustainability. Pup (0.4–1.0 years old) foxes had an 8-month (September–April) survival rate (0.34) that was lower than the 8-month (0.77) or 12-month (0.58) estimates for adult foxes. Interference competition was evident; 92% (11/12) of fox mortalities were the result of predation by sympatric coyotes Canis latrans or bobcats Felis rufus. Also, five of seven gray fox mortalities were outside of, or on the border of, the home range of the killed fox. Calculations indicated that the fox population would remain stable if survival of pups during their first 4 months of life was 0.68 (vs 0.75 for adults during these months and 0.58 for older pups for 4 other months). This seems reasonable, yet sympatric carnivores, mainly coyotes, clearly influence the gray fox population in southern California.

Keywords

bobcatCaliforniaCanis latranscarnivorescoyoteFelis rufusgray foxes intraguild predationmortalitysurvivalsympatryUrocyon cinereoargenteus
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Zoology , Volume 266 , Issue 3 , July 2005 , pp. 249 - 254
Copyright
2005 The Zoological Society of London

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