Project Library
Undergraduate Theses
Darbhi Durvasula, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2025
- Title: Insectivory on Clay Caterpillars in Response to Habitat Type and Olfactory Cues in an Ecuadorian Biodiversity Hotspot
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Durvasula-Darbhi-Honors-Thesis-1.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Samridhi Chaturvedi, Nicole Katin
Celia Acosta, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2024
- Title: Reforestation and insectivory dynamics: insights from the Chocó rainforest of Ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Acosta-Cece-Honors-Thesis.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Renata Ribeiro, Jordan Karubian, Donata Henry
Callie Rose Chenevert, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2024
- Title: Understanding how fruiting neighborhood and plant traits affect frugivory in northwestern ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/NTC_HT_Chenevert_Callie_Rose_2024.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Renata Ribeiro, Nicole Katin
Samual Kosiborod, B.S. Environmental Biology, Tulane University, 2024
- Title: Effect of Soil Treatments in Tropical Reforestation with Balsa
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/S.-Kosiborod_-Effect-of-Soil-Treatments-in-Tropical-Reforestation-1.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Sunshine Van Bael, D. Jelagat Cheruiyot, Beth Wee
Margaret Millar, B.S. Environmental Biology, Tulane University, 2024
- Title: Buggin’ Out: A Study of Ectoparasite Interactions on Avian Hosts Across Deforestation Gradients
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Millar-Final-Manuscript.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Donata Henry, Jeffrey Agnew
Carlos Sanchez, B.A. Sociology, University of South Carolina, 2024
- Title: The Influence Of Neoliberal And Ecoimperialist Contexts On Conservation: Insights From Ecuador’s Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SanchezJulia_Thesis_Final.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Robert Kopack, Liat Perlin, Steve Lynn
Liv Davison, B.A. Environmental Studies and Sociology, Tulane University, 2023
- Title: The Sustainability of Study Abroad: Impact on Students’ Environmentalism at the Fundación Para La Conservación de los Andes Tropicales Station in the Chocó Rainforest in Ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/The-sustainability-of-study-abroad.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Amalia Leguizamón, Laura McKinney, Casey Love
Levi Hoskins, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Tulane University, 2023
- Title: Regional abundance and diversity of plants in the northwestern Andes Mountains in response to abiotic variables
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Regional-abundance-and-diversity-of-plants-in-the-northwestern-Andes-Mountains-in-response-to-abiotic-variables.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Nicole Katin, Matthew Sumpter
Analisa Teleha, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Tulane University, 2023
- Title: Effects of deforestation on the diversity and activity of frugivore species in northwestern ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Teleha-Analisa_Effects-of-deforestation-on-the-diversity-and-activity-of-frugivore-species-in-northwestern-ecuador.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Donata Henry, Nicole Katin
Sarah Uher, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Tulane University, 2023
- Title: Landscape and soil properties as predictors of fine root traits in three tropical species
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Uher-Sarah_Landscape-and-soil-properties-as-predictors-of-fine-root-traits-in-three-tropical-species.pdf
- Faculty Advisors: Sunshine Van Bael, Jordan Karubian, Nicole Katin
Eleanor Casement, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2022
- Title: Associations between manakin lek breeding systems and fruiting plant distributions in northwestern Ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Casement-Eleanor_Associations-between-manakin-lek-breeding-systems-and-fruiting-plant-distributions-in-northwestern-Ecuador.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Kathleen Ferris, Andrew Horowitz
Sloan Livaccari, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2022
- Title: Phenology of palm trees in the Chocó Rainforest
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Phenology-of-palm-trees-in-the-Choco-Rainforest.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Sunshine Van Bael, Nicholas Mattei
Erin Sheehy, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2021
- Title: Lek habitat selection by four sympatric manakins in Northwestern Ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Lek-habitat-selection-by-four-sympatric-manakins-in-Northwestern-Ecuador.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Renata Durães Ribeiro, Amalia Leguizamón
Sarah Leuder, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2020
- Title: Palm Community Diversity and Composition in a Tropical Human-Modified Landscape
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Lueder-Sarah_Palm-community-diversity-and-composition-in-a-tropical-human-modified-landscape.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Renata Ribeiro, Christopher Dunn
Margaux Armfield, B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2020
- Title: Using networks to model pollen dispersal in a tropical palm
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Armfield_Margaux-Using-networks-to-model-pollen-dispersal-in-a-tropical-palm.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Caroline Taylor, Anastasia Kurdia
Autumn Nieves, B.A. Political Science and International Relations, Tulane University, 2020
- Title: Extraction, dissent & deforestation
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Nieves-Autumn_Extraction-dissent-amp-deforestation.pdf
- Faculty Advisors: Casey Love, Ruth Carlitz, Jordan Karubian
Masters Theses
Yan Xuan, M.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2025
- Title: Impact of Fruit Environment on Display Court Defense Intensity in White-Bearded Manakin
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/TUETD_Xuan_Yan_2025_0501.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Sunshine Van Bael, Alex Gunderson
Liat Perlin, M.A. Latin American Studies, Tulane University, 2022
- Title: Explaining Smallholder Farmer Tropical Deforestation in NW Ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Explaining-smallholder-farmer-tropical-deforestation-in-Northwest-Ecuador.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Amalia Leguizamón, Jordan Karubian, Claudia Chávez Argüelles
Katherine Perkins, M.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2022
- Title: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis prevalence across different habitats in northwest Ecuador in the direct developing frog Pristimantis achatinus
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Batrachochytrium-dendrobatidis-prevalence-across-different-habitats-in-northwest-Ecuador-in-the-direct-developing-frog-Pristimantis-achatinus.pdf
- Faculty advisor: Jordan Karubian
Katherine Rompf, M.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2022
- Title: Effects of manakin gut passage on germination success of a neotropical melastome
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Effects-of-manakin-gut-passage-on-germination-success-of-a-neotropical-melastome.pdf
- Faculty advisor: Jordan Karubian
Tanner Mazanec, M.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 2022
- Title: Herpetofauna richness, community composition and abundance in forested and agricultural habitats of the Mache Chindul Reserve, Northwest Ecuador
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Herpetofauna-richness-community-composition-and-abundance-in-forested-and-agricultural-habitats-of-the-Mache-Chindul-Reserve-Northwest-Ecuador.pdf
- Faculty advisor: Jordan Karubian
Ph.D. Dissertations
- Title: Eco-evolutionary mechanisms and genomic signatures of sexual selection in the genus manacus
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/TUETD_Anderson_H.-Luke_20250501.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Michael J. Braun, Samridhi Chaturvedi, Alex Gunderson, Renata Ribeiro
- Title: Biotic, genetic, and spatial mechanisms contributing to progeny survival and negative density dependence in Neotropical palm species
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Biotic-genetic-and-spatial-mechanisms-contributing-to-progeny-survival-and-negative-density-dependence-in-neotropical-palm-species.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Keith Clay, Kathleen Ferris, Paul Fine
- Title: The impacts of ecological and evolutionary processes on patterns of genetic diversity and variation in a long-lived tropical palm, oeocarpus bataua
- https://tieraprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DiazMartin-Zoe-Impacts-of-ecological-and-evolutionary-processes-on-patterns-of-genetic-diversity-and-variation-in-a-long-lived-tropical-palm-Oenocarpus-bataua.pdf
- Faculty advisors: Jordan Karubian, Keith Clay, Kathleen Ferris, Louise Brousseau