Theresa Wossler

Associate Professor of Zoology

Theresa’s research focuses largely on chemical communication in social insects. Her main interests are in the field of honeybee chemical ecology/biology and she has addressed topical issues relating to reproductive regulation in social insects, social parasitism, nestmate recognition and invasion biology. Her most recent research focus has been Argentine ants and their potential impact on local ant communities; solitary wasps which provide a remarkable opportunity towards unravelling the origin and evolution of castes in social insects; and feeding/trophic ecology in ants and white sharks. 

 

Theresa studied Zoology and Advanced Biology at the University of the Witwatersrand where she also completed her PhD on honey bee pheromones. She was awarded a NERC (Natural Environment Research Council, UK) postdoctoral fellowship but decided to stay in SA and take up a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Pretoria (1998 to 2002), where she continued working on social insects, in particular honey bees. She took up a permanent position at Stellenbosch University in May 2002. Besides her research, Theresa is also a very passionate teacher and engages in a number of teaching and learning activities and is continually involved with teaching development.