Liggins has spoken out against proposed cuts to science research at Massey University's Albany campus, in which 50 staff jobs were under threat, and some majors such as marine biology were to be discontinued.[10][11]
Research
Liggins was project coordinator for the Ira Moana – Genes of the Sea – Network, a collaborative researcher network and database project to advance marine genetic research in New Zealand. The 2018–2020 project aimed to create a comprehensive genetic database that collected and curated all the metadata from thousands of biological samples, involving over 85 researchers and 25 institutions. The database also allows metadata to be tagged with "Traditional Knowledge" notices, to signal that indigenous people have rights associated with the genetic data. In 2019 Liggins won the World Data System (WDS) Data Stewardship Award for her work on the project.[12]
In 2020 Liggins and her colleagues discovered three new records of fish species not previously known from the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve.[13] The observations were captured in hundreds of hours of unused underwater footage recorded in 2015, from a wildlife documentary being filmed while Liggins and her colleagues were on an expedition to the Kermadecs to collect DNA samples.[14][15]
Selected works
Liggins, Libby; Treml, Eric A.; Riginos, Cynthia (2019), Oleksiak, MF; Rajora, OM (eds.), "Seascape Genomics: Contextualizing Adaptive and Neutral Genomic Variation in the Ocean Environment", Population Genomics vol. Marine Organisms, Springer Nature, pp. 171–218, doi:10.1007/13836_2019_68, ISBN978-3-030-37935-3, S2CID213340840
Liggins, Libby; Booth, David J.; Figueira, Will F.; Treml, Eric A.; Tonk, Linda; Ridgway, Tyrone; Harris, David A.; Riginos, Cynthia (2015). "Latitude-wide genetic patterns reveal historical effects and contrasting patterns of turnover and nestedness at the range peripheries of a tropical marine fish". Ecography. 38 (12): 1212–1224. Bibcode:2015Ecogr..38.1212L. doi:10.1111/ecog.01398. hdl:10179/17394.
Liggins, Libby; Treml, Eric A.; Riginos, Cynthia (2013). "Taking the Plunge: An Introduction to Undertaking Seascape Genetic Studies and using Biophysical Models: Seascape genetic methods including biophysical models". Geography Compass. 7 (3): 173–196. doi:10.1111/gec3.12031. hdl:10179/17387.