What we do

Research

Advancing ecological understanding and informing conservation through independent and collaborative research.

Carnassial conducts research focused on wildlife ecology, conservation, and natural resource management. Our work ranges from independent studies to collaborative investigations designed to address questions in species conservation, habitat connectivity, transportation ecology, population monitoring, and landscape-scale management. We partner with universities, governmental agencies, conservation organizations, environmental firms, and multidisciplinary research teams to generate knowledge that contributes to both the scientific literature and applied conservation practice.

Technical & Scientific Services

Applying ecological science to conservation, management, planning, and decision-making.

Wildlife and natural resource projects often require specialized expertise at critical stages. Carnassial supports clients through study design, field methods development, monitoring programs, quantitative analysis, geospatial modeling, scientific review, and ecological data interpretation. Our role is to provide the technical foundation needed to inform management actions, conservation planning, regulatory processes, and project implementation.

Subject Matter Expertise & Advisory

Providing independent scientific guidance, technical review, and expert support.

Carnassial provides independent scientific guidance to clients and partners facing complex conservation and management challenges. This work may include technical review, conservation strategy development, expert consultation, participation on scientific panels, or contributions to collaborative initiatives and recovery efforts. We bring an objective, science-based perspective to questions requiring specialized ecological knowledge and experience.

WHERE WE WORK

WILDLANDS

Protected areas, public lands, intact habitat systems, and ecosystem conservation.

WORKING LANDSCAPES

Ranches, farms, forests, private lands, and other landscapes managed for both economic and ecological objectives.

TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS

Habitat linkages, highway mitigation efforts, wildlife crossings structures, and linear corridor projects

URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Rural to urban gradients, commercial development, small livestock operations, green infrastructure, and management and conservation in developed landscapes.

Representative applications

Wildlife Ecology, Management & Monitoring

A bobcat moving through dense, shaded brush, its face lit by filtered sunlight — Bobcat, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. Photo: Steve Hillebrand, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain

Management decisions often depend on knowing how many animals are present, where they occur, and how populations change through time. Answering those questions requires matching study design, sampling methods, and analytical approaches to both the ecological question and the species being studied. Carnassial works with clients to develop studies and monitoring programs for clients that generate reliable information for inform conservation planning, management, and regulatory decision-making. Our work spans population assessment, habitat relationships, species interactions, movement ecology, and long-term monitoring across a range of taxa and landscapes..

Representative Capabilities

Small to large scale camera trap monitoring
Monitoring framework development and evaluation
Occupancy and density estimation
Species interaction and co-occurrence analyses
Resource selection and movement analyses
Population viability and demographic modeling

Conservation & Species Recovery

Shaded relief map of northeastern Mexico and south Texas with the Tamaulipan Mezquital ecoregion outlined along the Gulf coastal plain — Tamaulipan Mezquital ecoregion, south Texas and northeastern Mexico. Map: Z3lvs, CC BY 4.0,

Current Work

Recover Texas Ocelots Reintroduction Project- Research Partner Species Recovery Planning and Monitoring in California

Recovering threatened, endangered, rare, declining, or isolated populations requires an understanding of population viability, habitat suitability, connectivity, and the factors limiting persistence across landscapes. Carnassial supports species recovery and conservation planning through the integration of field data, ecological modeling, and quantitative analyses that inform management decisions. Our work helps identify conservation opportunities, evaluate recovery strategies, and provide the scientific foundation for informed planning and decision-making.

Representative Applications

Species distribution & habitat suitability modeling
Reintroduction planning and supporting regulatory documents
Species status assessments
Monitoring of recovering or endangered populations
Conservation planning on private and public lands

Landscape Ecology, Geospatial Analysis & Remote Sensing

Satellite image of the Tehachapi Mountains showing forested ridges, dry valleys, and agricultural fields at the edge of the Central Valley — Tehachapi Mountains, California. Image: NASA, public domain

Current Work

Landscape and habitat modeling for carnivore conservation

Landscape patterns influence how wildlife populations persist, move, and respond to environmental change. Carnassial uses geospatial analyses, GIS, remote sensing, and spatial modeling to evaluate habitat conditions, landscape structure, connectivity, and ecological processes across broad spatial scales. Our work supports conservation planning, species recovery, natural resource management, environmental review, and infrastructure planning by translating complex spatial data into practical information for decision-makers.

Representative Capabilities

GIS analysis and cartographic products
Habitat suitability and species distribution modeling
Landscape connectivity and corridor assessments
Land cover mapping and change detection
LiDAR-derived vegetation and habitat structure analyses
Spatial statistics and predictive modeling
Remote sensing and geospatial data integration
Conservation prioritization and decision-support mapping
Climate vulnerability and landscape forecasting

Landscape Connectivity & Transportation Ecology

A concrete box culvert wildlife undercrossing beneath a highway, with daylight visible through the far end and sparse vegetation at the entrance — Wildlife undercrossing below State Route 76, California. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Southwest Region, public domain

Current Work

Ocelot road crossing patterns in Southern Texas
Road effect zone analyses in Southern Texas
Wildlife Connectivity Working Groups in California

Roads and transportation corridors influence wildlife populations at multiple scales, affecting movement, habitat use, gene flow and population persistence. Beyond vehicle collisions, different factors can determine whether animals approach, cross, or avoid transportation corridors. Carnassial provides expertise in transportation ecology, wildlife connectivity, and mitigation planning informed by research conducted across California, Texas, and the eastern United States. We help clients build robust wildlife-transportation projects and proposals for monitoring efforts and wildlife crossing placement. We provide valuable support through project planning, technical review, monitoring, and evaluation of connectivity and mitigation efforts in accordance to state and national connectivity acts and efforts.

Representative Capabilities

Camera trap and non-invasive monitoring of proposed and active wildlife crossing structures
Wildlife crossing structure planning, evaluation, and effectiveness
Room to Roam Act implementation and connectivity planning
Roadkill survey design
Wildlife movement and connectivity modeling
Technical support for wildlife connectivity initiatives and working groups
Regional and landscape-scale connectivity planning

Human-Wildlife Interactions

As human development and land use continue to expand, wildlife increasingly occupies these landscapes, elevating potential positive and negative interactions. Understanding how species respond to human activities is often central to reducing conflict, maintaining habitat functionality, and supporting long-term management objectives. We provide expertise to examine ecological and behavioral responses of wildlife to human activities, land-use change, and other forms of disturbance to identify management approaches that support both conservation and coexistence. Carnassial also provides technical guidance on human-wildlife conflict prevention and mitigation. This includes site assessments, evaluation of deterrent measures, attractant management recommendations, and science-based strategies to reduce conflict while maintaining viable wildlife populations.

Representative Capabilities

Human-wildlife conflict assessments
Large carnivore coexistence planning
Site-specific carnivore conflict mitigation recommendations
Evaluation of deterrent and non-lethal management strategies
Wildlife responses to development and land-use change
Conservation planning in working and developed landscapesOutreach and education supporting wildlife coexistence

Discuss a project

If your project needs one of these areas, or a combination of them, describe the question and the stage you are at.

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