Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Staff Member

Cara Thompson

Cara Thompson
Master's
Email: cjthomps@nmsu.edu

Biography

I was born and raised outside of Denver, Colorado. In 2014 I received a B.S. from Colorado State University and have since worked for several state and federal management agencies, as well as non-governmental research organizations. I have spent most of my career working with Western wildlife and ecosystems but also have worked on projects internationally and in southern Missouri. My research at NMSU evaluates the influence Mexican wolf predation risk has on elk habitat selection while my broad research interests include wildlife-habitat interactions, trophic ecology, and conservation ecology/management.

Research Publications Publication Date
Farley, Z.J., C.J. Thompson, S.T. Boyle, N.M. Tatman, and J.W. Cain III. 2024. Behavioral trade-offs and multitasking by elk in relation to predation risk from Mexican gray wolves. Ecology and Evolution 14:e11383. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11383 | Download May 2024
Project Completion Date
Habitat Modeling and Disease Risk Assessment for Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep on the Jicarilla Apache Nation May 2025
Elk demography, movements and habitat selection in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area in Arizona and New Mexico June 2025
Presentations Presentation Date
Thompson, C.J., J.W. Cain III, N.M. Tatman, S.G. Liley, J.C deVos, and J. Avey. 2022. Influence of Mexican wolves on elk habitat selection. 101st. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, Tucson, Arizona, USA. June 2022
Thompson, C.J., J.W. Cain III, N.M. Tatman, S.G. Liley, J.C deVos, and J. Avey. 2022. Evaluating predation risk from Mexican gray wolves on elk habitat selection. 29th Annual Conference of The Wildlife Society, Spokane, Washington. November 2022
Thompson, C.J., J.W. Cain III, N.M. Tatman, S.G. Liley, J.C deVos, and J. Avey. 2021. Influence of Mexican wolves on elk resource selection 14th Biennial Deer and Elk Workshop. Online Virtual. August 2021
Thompson, C.J., J.W. Cain III, N.M. Tatman, S.G. Liley, J.C deVos, and J. Avey. 2020. Influence of Mexican wolves on elk resource selection. 8th Natural History of the Gila Symposium, Silver City, New Mexico, USA. February 2020
Thompson, C.J., J.W. Cain III, N.M. Tatman, S.G. Liley, J.C deVos, and J. Avey. 2020. Influence of Mexican wolves on elk resource selection. 53rd Joint Annual Meeting of the Arizona/New Mexico Chapters of The Wildlife Society, Prescott, Arizona, USA. February 2020
Cain, J.W. III, C.J. Thompson, and Z. Farley. 2022. Predation risk from recovering Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) populations influences resource selection and behavior of elk (Cervus canadensis) in the southwestern United States. 10th International Deer Biology Congress. Osijek, Croatia. September 2022
Cain, J.W. III, C.J. Thompson, N.M. Tatman, and Z. Farley. 2023. Predation risk from recovering Mexican gray wolf populations influences resource selection and behavior of elk in the southwestern United States. 15th Biennial Deer and Elk Workshop, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. May 2023