The energetic cost of parental care in free-ranging arctic foxes on Iceland

The fieldwork for this research project started in 2002 and has been conducted annually every summer in Hornvik in the north-western part of Iceland. The project explores the energy costs of parental care in this monogamy species.

High energy demands and the widespread phenomena of biparental care within Canidae support the premise that monogamy may be a consequence of high reproductive costs. Previous field studies suggest that significant male parental care (e.g. food provision to the female and pups) occurs within the arctic fox.

The goal of this work is to quantify parental investment in free-ranging male and female arctic foxes during the post-lactation period. This will be conducted by comparison of field metabolic rate (FMR) (double-labelled water), activity patterns (GPS data-loggers) and microsatellite analysis (single locus DNA fingerprinting) to confirm parentage and monogamy in reproductively successful males and females during the breeding period. The project is also a pilot study for testing GPS data-loggers on arctic foxes.

This work is a collaborative effort between Tel Aviv University, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the University of Stockholm and the University of Iceland. The project is financially assisted by the United States/Israel Bi-national Science Foundation and the Tel Aviv University.

Prosjektleder: Dr Eva Fuglei