Name: Dr. Ezette Du Rand
Function: The Social Insects Research Group (SIRG)
Department of Zoology and Entomology
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, Republic of South Africa
Research: Aspects of insect physiology on a molecular and
biochemical level, including investigating the effects of diet or nutrition on digestive physiology, stress resistance (on a biochemical level) and development of gland signals (pheromones) in insects. A significant portion of my research are also focused on how insects or specifically honey bees deactivate/metabolise and eliminate ingested toxic compounds. Research interests also include aspects of the reproductive biology of honey bee such as the molecular mechanism underlying sexual conflict in honey bees.
In an ongoing research collaboration with Dr. Baer and CIBER, we are investigating the
current queen supersedure problem experienced by local hobbyist and commercial
beekeepers in Southern California. Though queen failure is a complicated and multifaceted
problem, we are specifically looking at two of the issues mentioned viz. workers failing to
raise a new queen in the event of queen loss and workers failing to accept a newly
introduced queen.
Email: ezette.durand@up.ac.za