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Dr Maxine Piggott awarded the Eureka Prize

maxine photo

Dr Maxine Piggott has been awarded the Eureka Prize for her PhD research at Monash University. The award was made in the category 'Research That Contributes to Animal Protection' in the category.

The prize was awarded for Dr Piggott’s research on non-invasive genotyping of threatened and invasive Australian wildlife species, as part of the broader research program undertaken by Dr Andrea Taylor’s group since the early 1990s, using genotyping of scats and hairs collected in the field to identify individuals and their gender. Much of this work has involved collaboration with wildlife management agencies.

Dr Piggott’s particular contribution was in the development and application of rigorous methodologies for genotyping from scats, particularly those of the endangered brush-tailed rock-wallaby. Trapping and handling of animals in order to monitor individuals and population trends can lead to stress, injury, and in some cases death. Genotyping and individual identification from scats allows assessment of population abundance, habitat use, dispersal, survival and many other parameters, without the need for animal capture..

The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes is a coveted award among scientists and Dr Maxine Piggott should be congratulated.

Papers on Dr Piggott’s work:

  • Banks SC, Piggott MP Hansen BD Robinson NA & Taylor AC (2002) Wombat coprogenetics: Enumerating a common wombat population by analysis of faecal DNA. Australian Journal of Zoology 50:193-204.
  • Piggott MP & Taylor AC (2003) Extensive evaluation of faecal preservation and DNA extraction methods in Australian native and introduced species. Australian Journal of Zoology 51: 341-355.
  • Piggott MP & Taylor AC (2003) Remote collection of animal DNA and its applications in conservation, management and understanding the population biology of rare and cryptic species. Wildlife Research 30: 1-13.
  • Piggott MP, Taberlet P, Bellemain E & Taylor AC (2004) A multiplex pre-amplification method that significantly improves microsatellite amplification and error rates for faecal DNA in limiting conditions. Conservation Genetics 5: 417-420.
  • Piggott MP (2004) Effect of sample age and season of collection on the reliability of microsatellite genotyping of faecal DNA. Wildlife Research 31: 485-493.
  • Piggott MP, Banks SC and Taylor AC (2006) Population structure of brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata)colonies inferred from analysis of faecal DNA. Molecular Ecology 15: 93-105.
  • Piggott MP, Banks SC, Stone N, Banffy C & Taylor AC (2006) Estimating population size of endangered brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) colonies using faecal DNA. Molecular Ecology 15: 81-91.
  • Piggott M, Wilson R, Marks CA, Banks SC, Gigliotti F & Taylor AC (in press) Evaluating exotic predator control programs using non-invasive genetic tagging. Wildlife Research