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Assessing Methods for Detecting Island Spotted Skunks

2020; Wiley; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/wsb.1085

1938-5463

Ellen C. Bolas, Rahel Sollmann, Kevin R. Crooks, Laura Shaskey, Christina L. Boser, Victoria J. Bakker, Adam Dillon, Dirk H. Van Vuren,

Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation

ABSTRACT Island spotted skunks ( Spilogale gracilis amphiala ) are endemic to 2 of the California Channel Islands (CA, USA)—Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa. The status of skunks is uncertain, although incidental captures in traps set for island foxes ( Urocyon littoralis ) suggest that skunks have declined to low numbers. We superimposed wildlife cameras at fox traps in 2016 and 2017 to provide a second measure of skunk detectability. On both islands, detection rates of skunks with fox traps (0.92/100 operating nights) and with cameras (0.72/100 operating nights) did not differ during summer, indicating the 2 methods are of similar reliability for detecting skunks. In 2017, skunk detections with cameras increased from summer to early winter, suggesting monitoring in winter may improve survey efforts. Low detection rates of island spotted skunks (<1/100 operating nights) were comparable to those of other spotted skunk populations that are considered rare. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.