Alison Mercer

{{Short description|New Zealand zoologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Alison Mercer | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}} | image = Otago University Zoology Dept • Alison Mercer 1987 (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Mercer in 1987 | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1954}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Zoology | workplaces = University of Otago | patrons = | alma_mater = University of Otago | thesis1_title = Visceral innervation in molluscs. | thesis1_url = http://otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/DUNEDIN:All:OTAGO_ALMA21116006390001891 | thesis1_year = 1979 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }} '''Alison Ruth Mercer''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=85%}} (born 1954) is a New Zealand zoologist based at the University of Otago,<ref name="bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology/staff/otago008927.html |title=Professor Alison Mercer, Our People, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, New Zealand |publisher=Otago.ac.nz |date=16 February 2016 |access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref> with a particular interest in the brain physiology of bees.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link7=Alison Mercer |author1=Elodie Urlacher |author2=Laurent Soustelle |author3=Marie-Laure Parmentier |author4=Heleen Verlinden |author5=Marie-Julie Gherardi |author6=Daniel Fourmy |author7=Alison R. Mercer |author8=Jean-Marc Devaud |author9=Isabelle Massou |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1146248U |display-authors=3 |doi=10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0146248 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |issue=1 |journal=PLOS One |language=en |article-number=e0146248 |pmc=4704819 |pmid=26741132 |date=7 January 2016 |title=Honey Bee Allatostatins Target Galanin/Somatostatin-Like Receptors and Modulate Learning: A Conserved Function? |volume=11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author-link2=Alison Mercer |author1=Malgorzata Lagisz |author2=Alison R. Mercer |author3=Charlotte de Mouzon |author4=Luana L S Santos |author5=Shinichi Nakagawa |doi=10.1007/S10519-015-9749-Z |issn=0001-8244 |issue=2 |journal=Behavior Genetics |language=en |pages=242–251 |pmid=26410688 |date=26 September 2015 |title=Association of Amine-Receptor DNA Sequence Variants with Associative Learning in the Honeybee |volume=46}}</ref> She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2022-nas-election.html | title=2022 NAS Election }}</ref>

== Education == Mercer received her PhD in zoology in 1979 from the University of Otago. Her thesis ''Visceral innervation in molluscs'' was concerned with molluscs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/DUNEDIN:All:OTAGO_ALMA21116006390001891|title=Visceral innervation in molluscs. – Dunedin Campus|date=|publisher=Otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com|access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref>

==Academic career== She has been an emeritus professor at the University of Otago since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018|title=University of Otago Annual Report 2018|url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/about/official-documents/otago710847.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-25|website=University of Otago|page=19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919222906/https://www.otago.ac.nz/about/official-documents/otago710847.pdf |archive-date=19 September 2020 }}</ref> Her research interests span from understanding the brain<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link1=Alison Mercer |author1=A R Mercer |author2=P G Mobbs |author3=Anthony P Davenport |author4=P D Evans |doi=10.1007/BF00218658 |issn=0302-766X |issue=3 |journal=Cell and Tissue Research |language=en |pages=655–677 |pmid=6420063 |date=1 January 1983 |title=Biogenic amines in the brain of the honeybee, Apis mellifera |volume=234}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author-link4=Alison Mercer |author1=Merideth A Humphries |author2=Julie A Mustard |author3=Stacey J Hunter |author4=Alison R. Mercer |author5=Vernon Ward |author6=Paul R Ebert |doi=10.1002/NEU.10209 |id=Wikidata Q45895371 |issn=1932-8451 |issue=3 |journal=Developmental Neurobiology |language=en |pages=315–330 |pmid=12717701 |date=1 June 2003 |title=Invertebrate D2 type dopamine receptor exhibits age-based plasticity of expression in the mushroom bodies of the honeybee brain |volume=55}}</ref> and behaviour of honey bees, development genetics, as well as learning and memory.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link2=Alison Mercer |author1=Malgorzata Lagisz |author2=Alison R. Mercer |author3=Charlotte de Mouzon |author4=Luana L S Santos |author5=Shinichi Nakagawa |doi=10.1007/S10519-015-9749-Z |issn=0001-8244 |issue=2 |journal=Behavior Genetics |language=en |pages=242–251 |pmid=26410688 |date=26 September 2015 |title=Association of Amine-Receptor DNA Sequence Variants with Associative Learning in the Honeybee |volume=46}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author-link8=Alison Mercer |author1=Elodie Urlacher |author2=Coline Monchanin |author3=Coraline Rivière |author4=Freddie-Jeanne Richard |author5=Christie Lombardi |author6=Sue Michelsen-Heath |author7=Kimberly J Hageman |author8=Alison R. Mercer |doi=10.1007/S10886-016-0672-4 |issn=0098-0331 |issue=2 |journal=Journal of Chemical Ecology |language=en |pages=127–138 |pmid=26872472 |date=12 February 2016 |title=Measurements of Chlorpyrifos Levels in Forager Bees and Comparison with Levels that Disrupt Honey Bee Odor-Mediated Learning Under Laboratory Conditions |volume=42}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology/staff/otago008927.html|title=Professor Alison Mercer|website=www.otago.ac.nz|language=en-nz|access-date=2018-07-26}}</ref>

She has repeatedly made headlines in the popular press with her studies of the effects of chemicals on bees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070719-bee-control.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822163858/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070719-bee-control.html |archive-date=22 August 2007 |title=Queen Bees "Brainwash" Workers With Chemicals |publisher=News.nationalgeographic.com |date= |access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Amber Dance| newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Queen-bees-use-mind-control-to-keep-young-workers-2580400.php |title=Queen bees use mind control to keep young workers in line |via=San Francisco Chronicle |date=21 July 2007 |access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.techtimes.com/articles/138002/20160303/pesticide-dumbs-down-bees-causes-deficits-in-memory-and-learning.htm |title=Pesticide 'Dumbs Down' Bees, Causes Deficits In Memory And Learning: SCIENCE |publisher=Tech Times |date=3 March 2016 |access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/queen-all-pheromones|title=The queen of all pheromones|date=2008-12-08|newspaper=Otago Daily Times|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en}}</ref> She has also published on the varroa mite a problematic parasite of honeybees.<ref>{{cite web|author=Rachel Graham |url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/296034/researchers-hope-for-varroa-bee-mite-breakthrough |title=Researchers hope for varroa bee mite breakthrough |website=Radio New Zealand News |date=8 February 2016 |access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=On the Front Line: Quantitative Virus Dynamics in Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Colonies along a New Expansion Front of the Parasite Varroa destructor |journal=PLOS Pathogens |volume=10 |issue=8 |article-number=e1004323 |date=21 August 2014 |doi=10.1371/journal.ppat.1004323 |pmid=25144447 |pmc=4140857 |last1=Mondet |first1=Fanny |last2=De Miranda |first2=Joachim R. |last3=Kretzschmar |first3=Andre |last4=Le Conte |first4=Yves |last5=Mercer |first5=Alison R. |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2008 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2008 |date=2 June 2008 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=28 December 2019}}</ref>

In 2022, Mercer was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-14 |title=US academy honour for Otago scientist |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/us-academy-honour-otago-scientist |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}</ref>

== Selected works == {{scholia}} *{{Cite journal |author-link5=Alison Mercer |author1=Fanny Mondet |author2=Joachim R de Miranda |author3=Andre Kretzschmar |author4=Yves Le Conte |author5=Alison R. Mercer |doi=10.1371/JOURNAL.PPAT.1004323 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7366 |issue=8 |journal=PLOS Pathogens |language=en |article-number=e1004323 |pmc=4140857 |pmid=25144447 |date=21 August 2014 |title=On the front line: quantitative virus dynamics in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies along a new expansion front of the parasite Varroa destructor |volume=10}} *{{Cite journal |author-link1=Alison Mercer |author1=A.R. Mercer |author2=R. Menzel |doi=10.1007/BF00619340 |issn=0340-7594 |issue=3 |journal=Journal of Comparative Physiology A |language=en |pages=363–368 |date=1982 |title=The effects of biogenic amines on conditioned and unconditioned responses to olfactory stimuli in the honeybeeApis mellifera |volume=145}} *{{Cite journal |author-link2=Alison Mercer |author1=Daniel Flanagan |author2=Alison R. Mercer |doi=10.1016/0020-7322(89)90023-8 |issn=1467-8039 |issue=2-3 |journal=Arthropod Structure & Development |language=en |pages=145–159 |date=January 1989 |title=An atlas and 3-D reconstruction of the antennal lobes in the worker honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) |volume=18}} *{{Cite journal |author-link7=Alison Mercer |author1=Kyle T Beggs |author2=Kelly A Glendining |author3=Nicola M Marechal |author4=Vanina Vergoz |author5=Ikumi Nakamura |author6=Keith N Slessor |author7=Alison R Mercer |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.2460B |doi=10.1073/PNAS.0608224104 |issn=0027-8424 |issue=7 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |language=en |pages=2460–2464 |pmc=1892986 |pmid=17287354 |date=7 February 2007 |title=Queen pheromone modulates brain dopamine function in worker honey bees |volume=104}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * "[http://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology/staff/otago008927.html Emeritus Professor Alison Mercer]", Department of Zoology, University of Otago

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, Alison}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century New Zealand zoologists Category:21st-century New Zealand women scientists Category:New Zealand women academics Category:University of Otago alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Otago Category:Scientists from Dunedin Category:New Zealand entomologists Category:Women entomologists Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:New Zealand women scientists Category:Long stubs with short prose