PhD (Massey University, NZ)
John Day Building: 2.03.1

Susie grew up in New Zealand and obtained her BSc in Ecology and Biodiversity from Victoria University of Wellington. She completed her honours and PhD at Massey University in the Manawatu. Susie joined the Fitz as a post doctoral fellow in 2010 to work on the ‘Hot Birds Research Project’ desert birds and climate change programme (HBRP). Susie was appointed to the academic staff in 2015 and now leads the behaviour branch of the HBRP, in close collaboration with Prof. Andrew McKechnie of the University of Pretoria (PI of the physiology branch of the programme). 

Research interests

Hot birds: understanding the vulnerability of arid zone birds to climate change: A major focus of Susie’s current research is the use of mechanistic approaches to understand the potential vulnerability of different bird species to climate change. Together with her collaborators and students, she studies the behavioural and ecophysiological responses of birds to high temperatures, with a focus on fitness consequences associated with thermoregulatory trade-offs. Susie works closely with Prof. Andrew McKechnie and Dr Ben Smit on these questions, using predominantly Kalahari species, but also fynbos and karoo birds, as model taxa.

Behavioural ecology in a changing world: Susie is interested in the behavioural flexibility of animals in the face of ecological change: how environmental factors, particularly temperature and aridity, drive behavioural decisions. She is especially interested in the consequences of these decisions for individual fitness, sociality, and the evolution of life history strategies.

Sensory ecology: Susie is particularly interested in the non-visual senses used by animals –especially birds - in foraging and social interactions, the ecological pressures that lead to the favouring of non-visual senses, and the connections between sensory systems and behaviour.

Research programmes

Hot Birds - Climate change and desert birds; Pied Babblers and Fork-tailed Drongos; Smart beaks - non-visual senses in birds; Global change and urban birds

Current students

Post-doctoral:

Shannon Conradie:  Interspecific variation in behavioural thermoregulation: costs and consequences under climate change.

Mia Momberg: Mistletoes as thermal refugia for birds in mesic landscapes. (Registered at U.Pretoria; co-hosted with Andrew McKechnie)

Doctoral:

Wesley Gush: Impacts of climate change on the Secretarybird, an iconic and threatened African raptor. (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie) (Registered at U.Pretoria)

Carrie Hickman: Climate change impacts on breeding success in Southern Ground Hornbills. (Co-supervisor: Rita Covas)

Ben Murphy: How do parent burds behaviourally mitigate the costs of breeding at hight  high temperatures? A study with Fork-tailed Drongos.  (Co-supervisor: Thomas Flower, Ben Smit)

Nick Pattinson: Effects of temperature and resource availability in the reproductive ecology of an arid zone bird.  (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie) - under examination

MSc

Abiodun Ademola: Stress in the city: impacts of high human presence on fitness of urban birds. (Co-supervisor:  Celiwe Ngcamphalala)

Nazley Liddle: Interacting effects of temperature and humidity on physiological and behavioural heat dissipation among birds in mesic eastern South Africa (Co-supervisor:  Andrew McKechnie) (Registered at U. Pretoria) - under examination

James Short: Physiological and behavioural aspects of climate change vulnerability in ground-foraging passerines inhabiting South Africa's Tankwa Karoo desert.  (Co-supervisor:  Andrew McKechnie) (Registered at U. Pretoria)

Jaimie Whyte: The roles of habitat and social factors in buffering effects of hot weather in the group-living White-browed Sparrow-weaver. (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie) (Registered at U.Pretoria) - under examination

MSc Conservation Biology:

Obakeng Pule: Beating the heat: maintaining safe nest microclimates for Kalahari hornbills. (Co-supervisors: Dr Celiwe Ngcamphalala, Ben Murphy)

BSc Hons

Martiné van den Berg: Assessing biophysical model performance for desert birds: do plumage characteristics matter? (Co-supervisor: Shannon Conradie)

Graduated students/completed Post-docs

Stephanie Payne (Post-doc, U.Pretoria 2021-22) Trait-based climate-change vulnerability assessment for arid zone birds of Southern Africa.

Margaux Rat (Post-doc, UCT/CNRS 2015-18) Climate change and the social structure of group-living, cooperatie desert birds: understanding the vulnerability of societies under elevated temperatures.

Miqkayla Stofberg (PhD, UCT, 2023)  The influence of anthropogenic food on bird behavioius and community structure in urban environments. (Co-supervisors: Arjun Amar, Petra Sumasgutner)

Michelle Thompson (PhD, Pretoria, 2023)  Phsiological validation of a behavioural index for assessing arid-zone birds' relative vulnerabilities to rising temperatures. (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie) (Registered at U.Pretoria)

Carla du Toit (PhD, UCT, 2022) Mechanosensory structures in the beaks of waders (Threskiorithidae) in relation to their foraging ecology. (Co-supervisor: Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan)

Shannon Conradie (PhD, Pretoria, 2022) Acute and chronic heat stress risk in Kalahari Desert birds under past, present and future climates. (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie)

Bukola Azaki (PhD, UCT, 2021) The breeding ecology and behavioural adaptations of African Black oystercatchers in light of climate change.

Amanda Bourne (PhD, UCT, 2020) Can sociality buffer the impacts of climate change on a cooperatively breeding bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor?  (Co-supervisors: Amanda Ridley, Claire Spottiswoode) (Awarded Purcell Prize for best Zoology thesis at UCT in 2020)

Krista Oswald (PhD, Rhodes University, 2020) Vulnerability of asky island endemic, the Cape Rockjumper,  to climate change. (Co-supervisors: Ben Smit, Alan Lee)

Tanja van de Ven (PhD 2017) Implications of climate change for the reproductive behaviour and performance of the desert-dwelling Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) (Co-supervisors: Andrew McKechnie, Peter Ryan).

MSc

Jessica Roberts (MSc, U.Pretoria 2021) Dune Lark thermoregulation behaviour and microhabitat use in the northern Namib Sand Sea. (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie) (graduated with distinction)

Jerry Molepo (MSc 2017, NMU) Sex-specific responses to heat stress in Sugarbirds. (Co-supervisor: Ben Smit)

MSc Conservation Biology

Michelle Bouwer (MSc CB 2023) Causes of decline in breeding success in Blue Cranes in the Overberg. (Co-supervisors: Peter Ryan, Christie Craig)

Bruce Chrispo (MSc CB 2023) Impacts of climate change on nest success in Fork-tailed Drongos. (Co-supervisors: Chima Nwaogu, Ben Murphy)

Kim Daniels (MSc CB 2023) Are mistletoes thermal refugia for birds in the arid savanna? (Co-supervisors: Andrew McKechnie, Mia Momberg)

Sean Morar (MSc CB 2022): Handling the heat: Keeping water available for birds of the Tankwa Karoo desert. (Co-supervisors: Wendy Foden, Nicola van Wilgen and Alan Lee)

Varalika Jain (MSc CB, 2021 with distinction) How common ravens (Corvus corax) exploit anthropogenic food sources through time and space in a semi-transformed, alpine environment. (Co-superviors: Petra Sumasgutner, Thomas Bugnyar)

Matthew Orolowitz (MSc CB 2020): Life on the edge: does body size and drinking dependency influence how birds deal with the heat in South Africa's most extreme desert?

Jack Harper (MSc CB 2020)  Assessing the climate change vulnerability of reptile and amphibian species found within Table Mountain National Park  (Co-supervisers: Wendy Foden and Nicola van Wilgen) 

Kerry-Ann Grey (MSc CB 2019 with distinction) Has a recent shift in local climate regime allowed incipient range expansion of Aloidendron dichotomum? (Co-supervisors: Wendy Foden, Guy Midgeley)

Sarah Catto (MSc CB 2018) Fluctuating human activity and associated anthropogenic food availability affect behaviour and parental care of Red-winged starlings. (Co-supervisors: Arjun Amar, Petra Sumasgutner)

Ryan Olinger (MSc CB 2017) How does temperature affect Fork-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus adsimilis foraging effort, nestling provisioning and growth rates? (Co-supervisor: Tom Flower)

Penny Pistorius (MSc CB 2016 with distinction) How air temperature affects flight initiation distance in arid-zone birds (Co-supervisor: Rowan Martin)

Salamatu Abdu (MSc CB 2015) Spatial use of the landscape by Kalahari birds in relation to temperature and the location of water holes

Robyn Milne (MSc CB 2014 with distinction) Physiological consequences of high temperatures in fynbos birds and implications for climate change. (Co-supervisors: Peter Ryan, Ben Smit, Alan Lee)

Phenias Sadondo (MSc CB 2014)The influence of temperature on parental investment in southern fiscals and consequences for nestling growth. (Co-supervisors: Peter Ryan, Rowan Martin)

Gina Louw (MSc CB 2011 with distinction) How will climate change affect birds in hot African deserts? (Co-supervisors: Phil Hockey, Rowan Martin)

Katherine du Plessis (MSc CB 2011) Heat tolerance of Southern Pied Babblers in the Kalahari Desert: how will they respond to climate change?  (Co-supervisors: Phil Hockey, Amanda Ridley, Rowan Martin)

BSc Hons

Sabrina Roberts (BSc Hons, 2022) Validating the relationship between blood corticosterone and faecal corticosterone metabolites in Fork-tailed Drongos. (Co-supervisor: Celiwe Ngcamphalala)

Mila Truter (BSc Hons, 2021 with distinction) Do urban red-winged starlings discriminate individual humans and can they generalise this knowledge across contexts? (Co-supervisor: Petra Sumasgutner)

Kagiso Nhlapo (BSc Hons, 2021) Stress in the city: validating the relationship between blood corticosterone and faecal corticosterone metabolites in urban red-winged starlings. Co-supervisor: Celiwe Ngcamphalala)

Taylyn Risi (BSc Hons, 2019) How does urbanisation affect diet, range size and mass maintenance in Red-winged starlings (Co-supervisor: Petra Sumasgutner)

Miqkayla Stofberg (BSc Hons, 2018) Juggling a junk food diet: foraging strategies of an urban bird in response to fluctuating anthropogenic food availability.

Nicholas Pattinson (BSc Hons, Pretoria, 2015 with distinction) Heat dissipation behaviour in arid-zone birds: are there global patterns? (Co-supervisor: Andrew McKechnie)

Recent peer-reviewed publications

2023

Bourne, A.R., Ridley, A.R. and Cunningham, S.J. 2023. Helpers don’t help when it’s hot in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler. Behavioral Ecology.  https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arad023

Conradie, S.R., Kearney, M.R., Wolf, B.O., Cunningham, S.J., Freeman, M.T., Kemp, R. and McKechnie, A.E. 2023. An evaluation of a biophysical model for predicting avian thermoregulation in the heat. Journal of Experimental Biology 226(15). https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.245066

Hunt, K., Marais, L., Cunningham, S.J., Ridley, A.R., Moagi, L., Rose, S., Mckechnie, A.E. and Bourne, A.R. 2023. Camelthorn and blackthorn trees provide important resources for Southern Pied Babblers Turdoides bicolor in the Kalahari. Ibis.  https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13232

Mikula, P., Tomášek, O., Romportl, D., Aikins, T.K., Avendaño, J.E., Braimoh-Azaki, B.D., Chaskda, A., Cresswell, W., Cunningham, S.J., Dale, S., Favoretto, G.R., Floyd, K.S., Glover, H., Grom, T., Henry, D.A.W., Holmern, T., Hromada, M., Iwajomo, S.B., Lilleyman, A., Magige, F.J., Martin, R.O., Maximiano, M.F.de.A., Nana, E.A., Ncube, E., Ndaimani, H., Nelson, E., van Niekerk, J.H., Pienaar, C., Piratelli, A.J., Pistorius, P., Radkovic, A., Reynolds, C., Røskaft, E., Tejeiro-Mahecha, N., Thompson, M.L., Wamiti, W., Wilson, M., Tye, D.R.C., Tye, N.D., Vehtari, A., Tryjanowski, P., Weston, M.A., Blumstein, D.T., Albrecht, T. 2023. Bird tolerance to humans in open tropical ecosystems. Nature Communications 14(1).  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37936-5

Orolowitz, M., Shadwell, E. and Cunningham, S.J. 2023. Drinking dependency shapes behavioural thermoregulatory trade-offs in four arid-zone larks. Journal of Arid Environments 214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2023.105001  

Payne, S.L., Cunningham, S.J., Howes, C.G., McKechnie, A.E. 2023. A trait-based assessment of southern African arid-zone birds' vulnerability to climate change. Biological Conservation 287. https://doi.org/10.1016/jbiocon.2023.110338

Sumasgutner, P., Cunningham, S.J., Hegemann, A., Amar, A., Watson, H., Nilsson, J.F., Andersson, M.N. and Isaksson, C. 2023. Interactive effects of rising temperatures and urbanisation on birds across different climate zones: A mechanistic perspective. Global Change Biology 29: 2399-2420. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16645

2022

Azaki, B.D.A., Cunningham, S.J. and Cresswell, W. 2023. Incubation scheduling by African Black Oystercatchers: effeects of weather, tide phase, and time of day. Journal of Ornithology https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-02023-x

Bourne, A.R., Cunningham, S.J., Nupen, L.J., McKechnie, A.E. and Ridley, A.R. 2022. No sex-specific differences in the influence of high air temperatures during early development on nestling mass and fledgling survival in the Southern Pied Babbler (Turdoides bicolor). Ibis. 164: 304-312. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12990

du Toit, C.J., Chinsamy, A. and Cunningham, S.J. 2022. Comparative morphology and soft tissue histology of the remote-touch bill-tip organ in three ibis species of differing foraging ecology. Journal of Anatomy https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13734

Harper, J.R.M., Van Wilgen, N.J., Turner, A.A., Tolley, K.A., Maritz, B., Clusella-Trullas, S., da Silva, J.M., Cunningham, S.J., Cheney, C., De Villiers, A.L., Measey, J. and Foden, W.B. 2022. Application of a trait-based climate change vulnerability assessment to determine management priorities at protected area scale. Conservation Science and Practice. e12756.

Jain, V., Bugnyar, T., Cunningham, S.J., Gallego-Abenza, M., Loretto, M-C. and Sumasgutner, P. 2022.  The spatial and temporal exploitation of anthropogenic food sources by common ravens (Corvus corax) in the Alps. Movement Ecology 10, 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-022-00335-4

Pattinson, N.B., Van De Ven, T.M., Finnie, M.J., Nupen, L.J., Mckechnie, A.E. and Cunningham, S.J. 2022. Collapse of breeding success in desert-dwelling hornbills evident within a single decade. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.842264

Stofberg, M., Amar, A., Cunningham, S.J. and Sumasgutner, P. 2022. Staying cool and eating junk: Influence of heat dissipation and anthropogenic food on foraging and body condition in an urban passerine. Landscape and Urban Planning 226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104465

2021

Bates A.E. et al (including Cunningham, S.J.). 2021. Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment. Biological Conservation 263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109175 

Bourne, A.R., Ridley, A.R., McKechnie, A.E., Spottiswoode, C.N. and Cunningham, S.J. 2021. Dehydration risk is associated with reduced nest attendance and hatching success in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied babbler Turdoides bicolor. Conservation Physiology 9. https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab043 

Bourne, A.R., Ridley, A.R., Spottiswoode, C.N. and Cunningham, S.J. 2021. Direct and indirect effects of high temperatures on fledging in a cooperatively breeding bird. Behavioral Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab087 

Catto, S., Sumasgutner, P., Amar, A., Thomson, R.L. and Cunningham, S.J. 2021. Pulses of anthropogenic food availability appear to benefit parents, but compromise nestling growth in urban red-winged starlings. Oecologia 197: 565–576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05033-3 

Cunningham, S.J., Gardner, J.L. and Martin, R.O. 2021. Opportunity costs and the response of birds and mammals to climate warming. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 19: 300-307. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2324 

McKechnie, A.E., Rushworth, I.A., Myburgh, F. and Cunningham, S.J. 2021. Mortality among birds and bats during an extreme heat event in eastern South Africa. Austral Ecology 46: 687-691. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13025 

Moagi, L.L., Bourne, A.R., Cunningham, S.J., Jansen, R., Ngcamphalala, C.A., Ganswindt, A., Ridley, A.R. and McKechnie, A.E. 2021. Hot days are associated with short-term adrenocortical responses in a Southern African arid-zone passerine bird. Journal of Experimental Biology 224. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.242535 

Oswald, K.N., Smit, B., Lee, A.T., Peng, C.L., Brock, C. and Cunningham, S.J. 2021. Higher temperatures are associated with reduced nestling body condition in a range‐restricted mountain bird. Journal of Avian Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02756 

Ridley, A. R., Wiley, E. M., Bourne, A.R., Cunningham, S.J. and Nelson-Flower, M.J. 2021. Understanding the potential impact of climate change on the behavior and demography of social species: the pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor) as a case study. Advances in the Study of Behavior. 53: 225-266. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.asb.2021.03.005

Risi, T.C., Sumasgutner, P. and Cunningham, S.J. 2021. Anthropogenic food availability and body mass maintenance in urban Red-winged Starlings Onychognathus morio. Ostrich. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2021.1906345 

Van Jaarsveld, B., Bennett, N.C., Czenze, Z.J., Kemp, R., van de Ven, T.M., Cunningham, S.J. and McKechnie, A.E. 2021. How hornbills handle heat: sex-specific thermoregulation in the southern yellow-billed hornbill. Journal of Experimental Biology 224. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.232777 

2020

Bourne, A.R., Cunningham, S.J., Spottiswoode, C.N. and Ridley, A.R. 2020. Hot droughts compromise interannual survival across all group sizes in a cooperatively breeding bird. Ecology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13604 

Bourne, A.R, Cunningham, S.J., Spottiswoode, C. and Ridley, A.R. 2020. Compensatory breeding in years following drought in a desert-dwelling cooperative breeder. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8: 190 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.00190/full

Bourne, A.R, Cunningham, S.J., Spottiswoode, C. and Ridley, A.R. 2020. High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287 (1931): 20201140 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.1140

du Toit C.J., Chinsamy A., and Cunningham S.J. 2020 Cretaceous origins of the vibrotactile bill-tip organ in birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2322 

Oswald, K.N., Diener, E.F., Diener, J.P., Cunningham, S.J., Smit, B. and Lee, A.T.K. 2020. Increasing temperatures increase the risk of reproductive failure in a near threatened alpine ground‐nesting bird, the Cape Rockjumper Chaetops frenatus. Ibis. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12846

Pattinson, N.B., Thompson, M.L., Griego, M., Russell, G., Mitchell, N.J., Martin, R.O., Wolf, B.O., Smit, B., Cunningham, S.J., McKechnie, A.E. and Hockey, P.A.R. 2020. Heat dissipation behaviour of birds in seasonally hot, arid‐zones: are there global patterns? Journal of Avian Biology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jav.02350  

Rat, M., Mathe‐Hubert, H., McKechnie, A.E., Sueur, C. and Cunningham, S.J. 2020. Extreme and variable environmental temperatures are linked to reduction of social network cohesiveness in a highly social passerine. Oikos. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.07463 IF: 3.370

Van de Ven, T.M.F.N., McKechnie, A.E., Er, S. & Cunningham, S.J. 2020. High temperatures are associated with substantial reductions in breeding success and offspring quality in an arid-zone bird. Oecologia in press.

2019

Bourne, A.R., McKechnie, A.E., Cunningham, S.J., Ridley, A.R., Woodborne, S.M. and Karasov, W.H. 2019. Non-invasive measurement of metabolic rates in wild, free-living birds using doubly labelled water. Functional Ecology 33(1): 162-174.

Conradie, S.R., Woodborne, S.M, Cunningham, S.J. and McKechnie, A.E. 2019. Chronic, sublethal effects of high temperatures will cause severe declines in southern African arid-zone birds during the 21^st century. PNAS. 116 (28): 14065-14070

Oswald, K., Smit, B., Lee, A.T.K. and Cunningham, S.J. 2019. Behaviour of an alpine range-restricted species is described by interactions between microsite-use and temperature. Animal Behaviour 157:177-187.

Stofberg, M., Cunningham, S.J., Sumasgutner, P. and Amar, A. 2019. Juggling a “junk-food” diet: responses of an urban bird to fluctuating anthropogenic-food availability. Urban Ecosystems. DOI: 10.1007/s11252-019-00885-3

Van de Ven, T.M.F.N., McKechnie, A.E. and Cunningham, S.J. 2019. The costs of keeping cool: behavioural trade-offs between foraging and thermoregulation are associated with significant mass losses in an arid-zone bird. Oecologia 191:205-215.

2018

Abdu, K.S., Lee, A.T.K, and Cunningham, S.J. 2018. The presence of artificial water points structures an arid-zone avian community over small spatial scales. Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology. 89 (4): 339-346.

Abdu, S., McKechnie, A.E., Lee, A.T.K. and Cunningham, S.J. 2018. Can providing shade at water points help Kalahari birds beat the heat? Journal of Arid Environments 152: 21-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.01.018

Cunningham, S.J. 2018. Birds of the arid zones: living life on the edge. Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology. 89 (4): 297-298.

Thompson, M.L, Cunningham, S.J. and McKechnie, A.E. 2018. Interspecific variation in avian thermoregulatory patterns and heat dissipation behaviours in a subtropical desert. Physiology and Behavior 188: 311-323. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.02.029

2017

Cunningham, S.J., Thompson, M.L. and McKechnie, A.E. 2017. It’s cool to be dominant: social status alters short-term risks of heat stress. Journal of Experimental Biology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.152793

Reynolds, S.M., Castro, I., Alley, M.R. and Cunningham, S.J. 2017. Apteryx spp. (Kiwi) possess an uropygial gland: anatomy and pathology. European Journal of Anatomy 21: 125-139.

2016

Cunningham, S.J., Madden, C., Barnard, P. and Amar, A. 2016. Electric crows: power lines, climate change and the emergence of a native invader. Diversity and Distributions 22: 17-29 (Published online 18 December 2015; published in hard copy January 2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12381

Smit, B., Zietsman, G., Martin, R.O., Cunningham, S.J., McKechnie, A.E. and Hockey, P.A.R. 2016. Behavioural responses to heat in desert birds: implications for predicting vulnerability to climate warming. Climate Change Responses 3: 9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0023-2

Van de Ven, T.M.F.N., Martin, R.O., Vink, T.J.F., McKechnie, A.E. and Cunningham, S.J. 2016. Regulation of heat exchange across the hornbill beak: functional similarities with toucans? PLoS ONE 11: e0154768. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154768

2015

Cunningham, S.J., Martin, R.O., and Hockey, P.A.R. 2015. Can behaviour buffer the impacts of climate change on an arid-zone bird? Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology 86(1&2): 119-126. http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2015.1016469

Martin, R.O., Cunningham, S.J. and Hockey, P.A.R. 2015. Elevated temperatures drive fine-scale patterns of habitat use in a savannah bird community. Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology 86(1&2): 127-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2015.1029031

Milne, R., Cunningham, S.J., Lee, A. and Smit, B. 2015. The role of thermal physiology in recent declines of birds in a biodiversity hotspot. Conservation Physiology  3:1-17 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cov048

2013

Cunningham, S.J., Martin, R.O., Hojem, C.L. and Hockey, P.A.R. 2013. Temperatures in excess of critical thresholds threaten nestling growth and survival in a rapidly-warming arid savanna: a study of common fiscals. PLoS One 8(9):e74613.

Cunningham, S.J., Corfield, J.R., Iwaniuk, A.N., Castro, I., Alley, M.R., Birkhead, T.R. and Parsons, S. 2013. The anatomy of the bill tip of Kiwi and associated somatosensory regions of the brain: comparisons with shorebirds. PLoS ONE 8(11):e80036.

Cunningham, S.J., Kruger, A.C., Nxumalo, M.P. and Hockey, P.A.R. 2013. Identifying biologically meaningful hot-weather events using threshold temperatures that affect life-history. PLoS One 8:e82492.

2012

Du Plessis, K.L., Martin, R.W., Hockey, P.A.R., Cunningham, S.J. and Ridley, A.R. 2012. The costs of keeping cool in a warming world: implications of high temperatures for foraging, thermoregulation and body condition of an arid-zone bird. Global Change Biology 18:3063-3070.

2011

Cunningham S.J., Alley, M.R, and Castro, I. 2011. Facial bristle feather histology and morphology in New Zealand birds: implications for function. Journal of Morphology 272:118-218.

Cunningham S.J. and Castro I. 2011. The secret life of wild brown kiwi: studying behaviour of a cryptic species by direct observation. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 35:209-219.

2010

Castro, I., Cunningham, S.J., Gsell, A.C., Jaffe, K., Cabrera, A. and Liendo, C. 2010. Olfaction in birds: a closer look at the kiwi (Apterygidae). Journal of Avian Biology 41:213-218.

Cunningham, S.J., Alley, M.R., Castro, I., Potter, M.A., Cunningham, M. and Pyne, M.J. 2010. Bill morphology of ibises suggests a remote-tactile sensory system for prey detection. The Auk 127(2):308-316.

Cunningham, S.J., Castro I., Potter M.A. and Jensen T. 2010. Remote touch prey-detection by Madagascar crested ibises Lophotibis cristata urschi. Journal of Avian Biology 41:350-353.