The science agency said mice cause huge economic and social impacts on rural communities, especially during mouse plagues, but its current understanding on the magnitude of these impacts is based on data collected around 30 years ago.
"Farming practices have changed substantially over this time, from conventional tillage to conservation practices with zero- and no-till systems," CSIRO said.
"So new insights are needed to really understand the scale of the mouse plague impacts.
"The mouse plague that affected much of NSW presents an ideal opportunity to not only repeat the survey conducted in the 1993 mouse plague, but also expand the scope of the study to include elements of social impacts to rural communities.
"In addition to economic and disease impacts, mouse plagues can cause severe psychological distress for people living through them."
Several focus group discussions were held in affected NSW communities to inform the development of the online survey, which is now open to regional NSW residents in affected areas until early December 2023.
Participation in the survey is completely voluntary and it takes approximately 25 minutes to complete.
CSIRO said the survey findings may be presented at industry, government and academic forums, and in research articles and reports, but responses will be combined and respondents will not be personally identified in any reporting.
MORE INFORMATION
If you'd like to find out more about the research, contact the CSIRO research team via email at peter.brown@csiro.au or phone 02 6246 4086.
