Alison Mercer
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Alison Mercer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mercer in 1987 | |
| Born | 1954 (age 71–72) |
| Alma mater | University of Otago |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology |
| Institutions | University 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]
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]
