Elia Pirtle
Research Scientist
Bachelor of Science with Honours, PhD Zoology
Elia develops surveillance and management tools to help prepare Australia for incursions of exotic insect pests, such as the vegetable leafminer fly. She also runs microcosm studies to determine the efficacy of pest control options. Elia loves being part of a team that has a strong focus on practical research outcomes. She grew up in the desert surrounded by a menagerie of animals, and has since been passionate about environmental sustainability and conservation.
After graduating from her Bachelor’s degree with First Class honours, she left her hometown of Reno, Nevada for Australia, to pursue a PhD at the University of Melbourne. Here she studied how reptiles stay cool and hydrated under extreme environmental conditions, using a combination of laboratory and field experiments, and computer modelling. Her research took her to remote parts of the North American and Australian desert ecosystems, which suited her well as she loves nothing more than working out in the field.
Elia is passionate about making science accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. She also loves to explore the ways that science can be communicated through art.
James Maino, Elia Pirtle, Peter Ridland, Paul Umina (2023) Forecasting the potential distribution of invasive leafminer pests, Liriomyza spp. (Diptera: Agromyzidae), and their natural enemies. Austral Entomology 62: 118-130.
Elia Pirtle, Anthony van Rooyen, James Maino, Andrew Weeks, Paul Umina (2021) A molecular method for biomonitoring of an exotic plant‐pest: Leafmining for environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology 30: 4913-4925.
Xuefen Xu, Peter Ridland, Paul Umina, Alex Gill, Perran Ross, Elia Pirtle, Ary Hoffmann (2021) High incidence of related Wolbachia across unrelated leaf-mining Diptera. Insects 12: 788.
Elia Pirtle, Paul Umina, Cindy Hauser, James Maino (2021) Using mock surveillance to quantify pest detectability prior to establishment of exotic leafminers. Crop Protection 148: 105713.
Samantha Ward, Maarten Van Helden, Thomas Heddle, Peter Ridland, Elia Pirtle, Paul Umina (2020) Biology, ecology and management of Diuraphis noxia (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in Australia. Austral Entomology 59: 238-252.
Peter Ridland, Paul Umina, Elia Pirtle, Ary Hoffmann (2020) Potential for biological control of the vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza sativae (Diptera: Agromyzidae), in Australia with parasitoid wasps. Austral Entomology 59: 16-36.
Craig White, Dustin Marshall, Lesley Alton, Pieter Arnold, Julian Beaman, Candice Bywater, Catriona Condon, Taryn Crispin, Aidan Janetzki, Elia Pirtle, Hugh Winwood-Smith, Michael Angilletta Jr, Stephen Chenoweth, Craig Franklin, Lewis Halsey, Michael Kearney, Steven Portugal, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos (2019) The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 598-603.
Lisa Kirkland, Elia Pirtle, Paul Umina (2018) Responses of the Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia) and bird cherry oat aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi) to insecticide seed treatments in wheat. Crop and Pasture Science 69: 966-973.