Lauren Roman

Research Scientist

CSIRO Environment

lauren.roman@csiro.au

Lauren Roman is a postdoctoral researcher at CSIRO’s Oceans and Atmosphere. Her research focuses on marine debris (plastics and other litter in the ocean) and the impact it has on wildlife. Her research combines laboratory analysis and statistical modelling to quantify litter in the ocean, investigate drivers of marine debris, and understand its effect on wildlife. Lauren has a PhD in Quantitative Marine Science, and her doctoral thesis focused on assessing the risk of plastic ingestion to tube-nosed seabirds.

Lauren has a lifelong passion for birds, and is interested in research that can be applied to the conservation of threatened and declining species. She is particularly interested tube-nosed seabirds, including albatross, petrels and shearwaters, which are the world’s most threatened bird group. The ingestion of marine debris is one of many threats to seabirds, which are also threatened by fisheries interactions, invasive species on breeding islands, and climate change. Despite the pervasiveness of marine debris ingestion by seabirds, its relative contribution to their population dynamics are poorly understood.