Lisanne Petracca

Lisanne Petracca is an Assistant Professor and Carnivore Ecologist affiliated with Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where she is part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Department of Rangeland and Wildlife Sciences. She heads the Spatial and Population Ecology of Carnivores (SPEC) Lab at CKWRI, focusing on quantitative approaches to carnivore ecology and conservation, particularly the recovery of ocelots in South Texas.

Dr. Petracca's research interests center on carnivore ecology, conservation biology, and spatial ecology. Her work utilizes quantitative methods to address challenges in wildlife conservation, with an emphasis on population dynamics of species like ocelots, jaguars, and lions. Previously, she developed spatially-explicit projection models for gray wolf populations and optimized monitoring strategies for tufted puffins during her postdoctoral work at the University of Washington.

Before joining academia, Dr. Petracca worked for nearly a decade as a Conservation Scientist at Panthera, studying jaguars in Central America and lions in sub-Saharan Africa. She earned her postdoctoral credentials at the University of Washington and is actively engaged in applied ecological research through her lab and fieldwork.