Welcome! Our lab explores how the environment that organisms experience shapes their ecological, behavioral, evolutionary, and conservation trajectories. We focus our research on animal and plant and plant systems around the world, with active studies on plant-animal interactions, mating systems, demography and survival, signal evolution, movement and dispersal, and endangered species. Our lab takes a socially aware approach that combines community-engaged participatory research with capacity building, training, and education in the biodiversity hotspots where we work.
A good month for student research! Sam, Luke, and Mitch all presented posters at the annual Tulane SSE Research Day poster session. Luke also received funding from the Explorer’s Club, the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane, the Tinker Foundation, and the American Ornithologist’s Union for his upcoming field season in Ecuador. He presented work in collaboration with Kym Ottewell and Jordan Karubian on the genetic and demographic consequences of forest fragmentation in Ecuador forOenocarpus bataua as part of Tulane’s Ecolunch seminar series.
Jenny’s paper ‘Reproductive Biology of the Yungas Manakin (Chiroxiphia boliviana) in Manu National Park, Peru’ was published in Ornitologia Neotropical.
Read MoreScott’s manuscript ‘Hurricane, Habitat Degredation, And Land Loss Effects On Brown Pelican Nesting Colonies’ has been accepted to the Journal of Coastal Research. Furthermore, Scott has submitted the full grant proposal to National Geographic requesting funds to continue our GPS tracking work with Brown Pelicans in Alabama and Louisiana. This work seeks to gain an understanding of pelican foraging behaviors within the context of hypoxia-induced shifts in the distribution of the pelican’s dominant prey, the Gulf Menhaden.
Jordan was appointed to the Kylene and Brad Beers Professorship in Social Entrepreneurship. This appointment recognizes his commitment to blending community engagement with scholarship. Furthermore, Jordan and his family have recently arrived in Brazil, where they will spend several months of this Third Year Leave in the city of Florianopolis.
Finally, we’ll have two new PhD students in the lab this fall. Erik Enbody plans to conduct his dissertation research on the behavioral ecology of the White-shouldered Fairy-wren in Papua New Guinea. And, Brock Geary will focus his research on Gulf of Mexico Waterbirds. Welcome to them both!
Otherwise, we all enjoyed another Mardi Gras!
Read More