Alison Mercer

Alison Ruth Mercer ONZM (born 1954) is a New Zealand zoologist based at the University of Otago.[1]

Alison Mercer

ONZM
Born1954 (age 66–67)
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
InstitutionsUniversity of Otago
Thesis

Education

Mercer received her PhD in zoology in 1979 from the University of Otago. Her thesis Visceral innervation in molluscs was concerned with molluscs.[2]

Academic career

She is now a professor at the University of Otago.[1] Her current research interests span from understanding the brain and behaviour of honey bees, development genetics, as well as learning and memory.[3]

She has repeatedly made headlines in the popular press with her studies of the effects of chemicals on bees.[4][5][6] 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.[7] She has also published on the virroa mite a problematic parasite of honeybees.[8][9]

In the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Mercer was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to science.[10]

Selected works
  • Mondet, Fanny, et al. "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 (2014): e1004323.
  • Mercer, A. R., and R. Menzel. "The effects of biogenic amines on conditioned and unconditioned responses to olfactory stimuli in the honeybeeApis mellifera." Journal of Comparative Physiology A 145.3 (1982): 363–368.
  • Flanagan, Daniel, and Alison R. Mercer. "An atlas and 3-D reconstruction of the antennal lobes in the worker honey bee, Apis mellifera L.(Hymenoptera: Apidae)." International Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology 18.2–3 (1989): 145–159.
  • Beggs, Kyle T., et al. "Queen pheromone modulates brain dopamine function in worker honey bees." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104.7 (2007): 2460–2464.

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. "Visceral innervation in molluscs. – Dunedin Campus". Otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. "Professor Alison Mercer". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. "Queen Bees "Brainwash" Workers With Chemicals". News.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. 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.
  6. "Pesticide 'Dumbs Down' Bees, Causes Deficits In Memory And Learning : SCIENCE". Tech Times. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  7. "The queen of all pheromones". Otago Daily Times. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  8. Rachel Graham (8 February 2016). "Researchers hope for varroa bee mite breakthrough". Radio New Zealand News. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. 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.
  10. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2008". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2019.


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