Department of Anthropology
Nelle Kulick, Tulane University

Nelle Kulick

Graduate Student
Reveal Email Address

Biography

Nelle is a PhD candidate, co-advised by Drs. Katharine Jack (Tulane) and Amanda Melin (UCalgary), studying how wild capuchins respond to extreme ecological challenges behaviorally and physiologically, with a focus on identifying adaptive qualities of prolonged adrenocortical responses.

She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and her doctoral research is funded by the American Society of Primatologists, the International Primatological Society, and the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.

In addition to her doctoral research, Nelle is also a graduate research assistant on an NSF-funded study on capuchin male bimorphism and the potential role of olfactory signaling in its manifestation (led by advisors, Drs. Jack and Melin).

Education

  • 2022 to present – Doctoral Student, Anthropology, Tulane University
  • ⁠2023 to present – Visiting Graduate Researcher, Anthropology and Archeology, University of Calgary
  • 2022 – Master of Arts, Anthropology, Tulane University
  • 2020 – Bachelor of Science, Environmental Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University. Secondary major: Anthropology.

Selected Publications (6 of 12)

  • Petersdorf M, Brasington LF, Kulick NK, Buehler MS, Campos FA, Hernandez SC, Fedigan LM, Lopez Navarro R, Melin AD, Jack KM. No evidence for the Bruce effect in white-faced capuchins. Animal Behaviour. In Press.
  • Poirier AC, Kulick NK, Morales SR, Kücklich M, Weiß BM, Birkemeyer C, Widdig A, Melin AD, Jack KM. Urinary washing and urinary odor profiles in relation to dominance rank status in wild male capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator). Royal Society Open Science. In Press.
  • Kulick NK*, Jack KM*, Schoof VM, Wikberg EC, Kawamura S, Fedigan LM. (2024). And baby makes three: Postpartum changes in male-female affiliative interactions in white-faced capuchins. American Journal of Primatology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23691
  • Jack KM, Kulick NK.(2023). Primate field research during a pandemic: Lessons learned from the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. American Journal of Primatology, 85, e23551. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23551
  • Beehner, JC, Alfaro J, Allen C, Benítez ME, Bergman TJ, Buehler MS, Carrera SC, Chester EM, Deschner T, Fuentes Jiménez A, Gault C, Godoy I, Jack KM, Kim JD, Kulick NK, Losch T, Ordoñez Jiménez JC, Perry SE, Pinto F, Tinsley Johnson E, Wasserman MD. (2022). Using an on-site laboratory for fecal steroid analysis in wild white-faced capuchins. General & Comparative Endocrinology 329, 114109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2022.114109
  • Kulick NK, Cheves S, Chaves-Cordero C, Lopez R, Romero Morales S, Fedigan LM, Jack KM. (2021). Female-committed infanticide followed by juvenile-enacted cannibalism in wild white-faced capuchins. Primates; 62(6): 1037-1043. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00949-z

‘*’ indicates these individuals should be considered joint first author

Follow Nelle’s work on Google Scholar and Bluesky @nellekulick.bsky.social

[Page last updated August 2025]