Serologic survey of the island spotted skunk on Santa Cruz Island

Two rare endemic carnivores occur on California's northern Channel Islands: island spotted skunks ( Spilogale gracilis amphiala ) and island foxes ( Urocyon littoralis ). As insular carnivores, both may be particularly vulnerable to novel pathogens. We tested sera from 31 island spotted skunks on Santa Cruz Island, where both skunks and foxes occur sympatrically, to establish their exposure to disease agents. One skunk (3%) tested positive for canine heartworm, and 3 skunks (10%) tested positive for canine parvovirus. None showed evidence of exposure to canine adenovirus, canine distemper virus, canine herpesvirus, Leptospira bacteria (serovars pomona , canicola , and icterohaemorrhagiae ), or pseudorabies virus. Spotted skunks on Santa Cruz Island apparently have low susceptibility or exposure to these pathogens and are unlikely to be reservoirs of these diseases for island foxes.     

Spatial organization of northern flying squirrels, Glaucomys sabrinus: territoriality in females?

We determined home-range overlap among northern flying squirrels ( Glaucomys sabrinus ) to assess their spatial organization. We found extensive home-range overlap among females, and though this overlap could reflect social behavior, we found no evidence of attraction among females, with only one instance of den-sharing. Instead, our results suggest that females share foraging areas but may be territorial in portions of the home range, especially around den trees and during young-rearing. Home-range overlap could also result from the extrinsic effect of forest fragmentation due to timber harvest, which might impede dispersal and force squirrels to cluster on remaining fragments of suitable habitat. Determinamos el sobrelapamiento del rango hogareño entre las ardillas voladoras del norte ( Glaucomys sabrinus ) para evaluar su organización espacial. Encontramos un extenso sobrelapamientos en los rangos hogareños entre las hembras; aunque esto podría reflejar su comportamiento social, no encontramos evidencia de atracción entre hembras, y en sólo un caso compartieron su guarida. Vienen su lugar, nuestros resultados sugieren que las hembras comparten áreas de forrajeo pero pueden ser territoriales en ciertas partes de su rango hogareño, particularmente cerca de los árboles donde tienen guaridas y cuando tienen cría. El sobrelapamiento del rango hogareño también podría ser el resultado del efecto extrínseco de la fragmentación forestal debido a la tala de madera, el cual podría impedir la dispersión y forzar a las ardillas a agruparse en fragmentos de hábitat adecuado que queden.