Assoc. Prof. Dr. Petra Sumasgutner

Petra Sumasgutner is a movement ecologist and raptor researcher at the University of Vienna, where she leads a research group investigating how wildlife responds to rapid human-driven environmental change. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Vienna and, following postdoctoral research at the University of Turku (FI), the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, and the Centre for Statistics in Ecology, the Environment and Conservation at the University of Cape Town (ZA), she established her research programme on predator and scavenger ecology in human-dominated landscapes.

Her main research interest is how behavioural flexibility, movement strategies, and species interactions shape the ability of animals to persist and adapt in changing environments. Her work focuses on birds of prey and scavengers, combining GPS and biologging technologies, accelerometer-based behavioural classification, and demographic modelling to understand individual responses and their consequences for populations. Sumasgutner studies wildlife across diverse systems, from urban landscapes to remote islands and agricultural environments, integrating long-term field studies with advanced analytical approaches to explore human-wildlife coexistence and conservation challenges.

Website: https://www.sumasgutnerlab.org/

START Project: https://klf.univie.ac.at/research/current-projects/acceleration-for-food/

Biodiversa+ Project: https://www.myurbanbee.com/

WWTF DARE Project