Lauren Suffling

I am a PhD candidate investigating the non-lethal management of native Australian marsupials that predate on threatened birds. I hope to build on the understanding of predator-prey interactions, and advance evidence-based conservation strategies that mitigate human landscape impacts on biodiversity.

I previously completed my honours at USYD studying the intrinsic factors that influence post release survival of hand-raised brushtail possums.

Supervised by: Dr Joy Tripovich, A/Prof Neil Jordan and Dr Ben Pitcher

Project Title: Acoustic detection and deterrence of mammalian predators of regent honeyeaters

Project Description: Regent Honeyeaters are critically endangered Australian songbirds with only 200-400 individuals remaining in the wild. Video and manual surveillance have revealed that marsupials including common brushtail possums and sugar gliders will predate on eggs and nestlings of Regent Honeyeaters, contributing to population decline. This project aims to develop a non-lethal acoustic system to protect nesting Regent Honeyeaters nests from small marsupial predators by detecting their vocalizations and deterring them using ultrasonic signals.