Thank you for your interest in the Birdlab! Please see below for current opportunities for PhD/Honours. Please contact Diane (diane.colombelli-negrel@flinders.edu.au) if you are interested in collaborating or if you are a prospective student.
Project: Superb fairy-wren and climate effects on developmental programming. This project aims to understand how birds can adapt to climate change by examining an how the prenatal environment influences their survival and resilience later in life. This project is part of a long-term monitoring of superb fairy-wrens at Cleland Wildlife Park since 2008 and needs a person keen to do field work.
Project: Seabirds and shorebirds monitoring. Several projects are available investigating factors influencing the behaviours of seabirds and shorebirds in South Australia. One project assesses the threats to the endangered Australian Fairy Tern in order to implement targeted conservation strategies, while other projects focus on the impacts of human presence and activities on the foraging behaviours of shorebirds. Another project focus on little penguins and is part of an ongoing monitoring investigation on population declines in South Australian little penguins. Constant exposure to stressors, such as human disturbance, can result in lower fitness and reduce survival and reproductive success in seabirds. It is therefore important to better understand how individuals can cope with long-term stressful situations. In this project, we aim to assess little penguin personalities and their responses to humans. Questions can be further developed with an interested student.
birdlabaustralia.com 