Jump to content

Alison Mercer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alison Mercer
ONZM
Mercer in 1987
Born1954 (age 69–70)
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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]
Scholia has a profile for Alison R. Mercer (Q42048150).

References

[edit]
  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. ^ Elodie Urlacher; Laurent Soustelle; Marie-Laure Parmentier; et al. (7 January 2016). "Honey Bee Allatostatins Target Galanin/Somatostatin-Like Receptors and Modulate Learning: A Conserved Function?". PLOS One. 11 (1): e0146248. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1146248U. doi:10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0146248. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4704819. PMID 26741132. Wikidata Q35887908.
  3. ^ Malgorzata Lagisz; Alison R. Mercer; Charlotte de Mouzon; Luana L S Santos; Shinichi Nakagawa (26 September 2015). "Association of Amine-Receptor DNA Sequence Variants with Associative Learning in the Honeybee". Behavior Genetics. 46 (2): 242–251. doi:10.1007/S10519-015-9749-Z. ISSN 0001-8244. PMID 26410688. 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. ^ A R Mercer; P G Mobbs; Anthony P Davenport; P D Evans (1 January 1983). "Biogenic amines in the brain of the honeybee, Apis mellifera". Cell and Tissue Research. 234 (3): 655–677. doi:10.1007/BF00218658. ISSN 0302-766X. PMID 6420063. Wikidata Q48829905.
  8. ^ Merideth A Humphries; Julie A Mustard; Stacey J Hunter; Alison R. Mercer; Vernon Ward; Paul R Ebert (1 June 2003). "Invertebrate D2 type dopamine receptor exhibits age-based plasticity of expression in the mushroom bodies of the honeybee brain". Developmental Neurobiology. 55 (3): 315–330. doi:10.1002/NEU.10209. ISSN 1932-8451. PMID 12717701. Wikidata Q45895371.
  9. ^ Malgorzata Lagisz; Alison R. Mercer; Charlotte de Mouzon; Luana L S Santos; Shinichi Nakagawa (26 September 2015). "Association of Amine-Receptor DNA Sequence Variants with Associative Learning in the Honeybee". Behavior Genetics. 46 (2): 242–251. doi:10.1007/S10519-015-9749-Z. ISSN 0001-8244. PMID 26410688. Wikidata Q50558844.
  10. ^ Elodie Urlacher; Coline Monchanin; Coraline Rivière; Freddie-Jeanne Richard; Christie Lombardi; Sue Michelsen-Heath; Kimberly J Hageman; Alison R. Mercer (12 February 2016). "Measurements of Chlorpyrifos Levels in Forager Bees and Comparison with Levels that Disrupt Honey Bee Odor-Mediated Learning Under Laboratory Conditions". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 42 (2): 127–138. doi:10.1007/S10886-016-0672-4. ISSN 0098-0331. PMID 26872472. 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.
[edit]
Flag of New ZealandScientist icon Stub icon

This biographical article about a New Zealand academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alison_Mercer&oldid=1253212797"