An innovative analytical approach developed by Dr Nakagawa has also enabled him to shed new light on the way somewhat reduced dietary intake contributes to an increased lifespan in many organisms.
The annual award and medal recognise outstanding research performance by Otago early-career staff and are accompanied by a $5000 grant for personal scholarly development.
A behavioural ecologist, Dr Nakagawa joined the Otago zoology department as a lecturer in 2008, becoming a senior lecturer in 2011.
Announcing the award, deputy vice-chancellor, research and enterprise, Prof Richard Blaikie said that in Dr Nakagawa's relatively short time at Otago, he had made outstanding scholarly contributions to biological research in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Dr Nakagawa was a ''highly talented researcher'', who had developed extensive research collaborations, including with overseas colleagues.''
His interests include behavioural and evolutionary ecology, nutritional ecology and evolutionary gerontology.
Dr Nakagawa was delighted his research had been recognised through the award but emphasised that his recent output was also ''attributable to my colleagues and especially students''.
He had already collaborated and published with eight of his 23 colleagues in the Otago zoology department, and, over the past five years, had also published more than 30 papers with 17 different students.
Dr Nakagawa has pioneered a new approach to using meta-analysis in field biology, and this methodology has been increasingly adopted by biologists throughout the world.
Meta-analysis involves combining data from many researchers and drawing a general trend from a wide array of studies. Using the new approach, a collaborative study had enabled him to largely clear up several contentious issues involving the effect that restricting dietary intake had on lengthening an organism's lifespan, university officials said.
After comparing data from 145 studies involving 36 species, he and co-researchers found lifespan increases were greater in females and captive animals.
Restricting protein was just as important as consuming fewer calories in extending lifespan, the study found.
Dr Nakagawa has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and his research has gained backing from the Marsden Fund, Gravida and several other sources.
Last year, he was awarded a prestigious five-year Rutherford Discovery Fellowship by the Royal Society of New Zealand and received an Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research in 2011.
