Alison Mercer

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Alison Mercer
ONZM
File:Otago University Zoology Dept • Alison Mercer 1987 (cropped).jpg
Mercer in 1987
Born1954 (age 70–71)
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
InstitutionsUniversity of Otago
Thesis

Alison Ruth Mercer ONZM (born 1954) is a New Zealand zoologist based at the University of Otago,[1] with a particular interest in the brain physiology of bees.[2][3] She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.[4]

Education

Mercer received her PhD in zoology in 1979 from the University of Otago. Her thesis Visceral innervation in molluscs was concerned with molluscs.[5]

Academic career

She has been an emeritus professor at the University of Otago since 2018.[6] Her research interests span from understanding the brain[7][8] and behaviour of honey bees, development genetics, as well as learning and memory.[9][10][11] She has repeatedly made headlines in the popular press with her studies of the effects of chemicals on bees.[12][13][14] She was nicknamed the "Queen of all pheromones" by Otago Daily Times for her work in discovering that exposing a young bee to the pheromone of a queen bee actually alters the composition of the young bee's brain.[15] She has also published on the varroa mite a problematic parasite of honeybees.[16][17]

Awards and honours

In the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Mercer was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to science.[18] In 2022, Mercer was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.[19]

Selected works

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Scholia has a profile for Alison Mercer ().
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References

  1. ↑ "Professor Alison Mercer, Our People, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, New Zealand". Otago.ac.nz. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. ↑ No label or title -- debug: Q35887908, Wikidata Q35887908 {{citation}}: |doi-access= requires |doi= (help)
  3. ↑ No label or title -- debug: Q50558844, Wikidata Q50558844
  4. ↑ "2022 NAS Election".
  5. ↑ "Visceral innervation in molluscs. – Dunedin Campus". Otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "University of Otago Annual Report 2018" (PDF). University of Otago. 2018. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  7. ↑ No label or title -- debug: Q48829905, Wikidata Q48829905
  8. ↑ No label or title -- debug: Q45895371, Wikidata Q45895371
  9. ↑ No label or title -- debug: Q50558844, Wikidata Q50558844
  10. ↑ No label or title -- debug: Q50533829, Wikidata Q50533829
  11. ↑ "Professor Alison Mercer". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "Queen Bees "Brainwash" Workers With Chemicals". News.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  13. ↑ Amber Dance (21 July 2007). "Queen bees use mind control to keep young workers in line". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 October 2017 – via San Francisco Chronicle.
  14. ↑ "Pesticide 'Dumbs Down' Bees, Causes Deficits In Memory And Learning : SCIENCE". Tech Times. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  15. ↑ "The queen of all pheromones". Otago Daily Times. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  16. ↑ Rachel Graham (8 February 2016). "Researchers hope for varroa bee mite breakthrough". Radio New Zealand News. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  17. ↑ Mondet, Fanny; De Miranda, Joachim R.; Kretzschmar, Andre; Le Conte, Yves; Mercer, Alison R. (21 August 2014). "On the Front Line: Quantitative Virus Dynamics in Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Colonies along a New Expansion Front of the Parasite Varroa destructor". PLOS Pathogens. 10 (8): e1004323. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1004323. PMC 4140857. PMID 25144447.
  18. ↑ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2008". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  19. ↑ "US academy honour for Otago scientist". Otago Daily Times Online News. 14 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.

External links

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