Research Focus
Research in my lab focuses on the ecology of plant-pollinator interactions in natural and managed systems. We use tools from chemical and molecular ecology to assess how pesticides and pathogens impact pollinator health, ecology and the delivery of pollination services. Current research projects include: 1) Combining empirical data with network modeling to understand pathogen transmission in plant-pollinator networks, 2) Evaluating the relative importance of multiple factors (pesticides, pathogens, diet, landscape variables) on bumble bee and honey bee colony performance, 3) Assessing the impact of fungicides on bumble bee and honey bee health and performance, and 4) Understanding how pesticides and pathogens influence the delivery of pollination services to agriculturally important NY crops.
Teaching Focus
As a Research Scientist, I have no formal teaching commitments. However, I love to teach and lead a bi-weekly 'Pollinator Reading Group' that is open to undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and faculty. The focus of the reading group is discussion of current literature, research plans and happenings related to pollinators at Cornell and elsewhere. I give regular guest lectures on pollinators and other topics and administer our pollinator list serve (POLLINATOR-L@cornell.edu).
Additional Links
Selected Publications
Journal Publications
- McArt, S., Urbanowicz, C., McCoshum, S., Irwin, R. E., & Adler, L. S. (2017). Landscape predictors of pathogen prevalence and range contractions in US bumblebees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284.
- McArt, S., Fersch, A. A., Milano, N. J., Truitt, L. L., & Böröczky, K. (2017). High pesticide risk to honey bees despite low focal crop pollen collection during pollination of a mass blooming crop. Scientific Reports. 7:10.
- McArt, S. H., Koch, H., Irwin, R. E., & Adler, L. S. (2014). Arranging the bouquet of disease: Floral traits and the transmission of plant and animal pathogens. Ecology Letters. 17:624-636.
- Kaplan, I., McArt, S., & Thaler, J. S. (2014). Plant defenses and predation risk differentially shape patterns of consumption, growth, and digestive efficiency in a guild of leaf-chewing insects. PLOS One. 9:e93714.
Others
- McArt, S. (2018). Summary of Hallmann et al. 2017 [Plos One 12 (10): e0185809]: "More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas". p. 53 American Bee Journal, Notes from the lab: The latest bee science distilled Dadant & Sons, Inc., Hamilton, IL, United States .
- McArt, S. (2018). Summary of Liao et al. 2017 [Scientific Reports 7:15924]: "Behavioral responses of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to natural and synthetic xenobiotics in food". p. 384-385 American Bee Journal, Notes from the lab: The latest bee science distilled Dadant & Sons, Inc., Hamilton, IL, United States .
- McArt, S. (2018). Summary of Lopez-Uribe et al. 2017 [Conservation Genetics 18: 659-666]: "Higher immunocompetence is associated with higher genetic diversity in feral honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera)". p. 203-204 American Bee Journal, Notes from the lab: The latest bee science distilled Dadant & Sons, Inc., Hamilton, IL, United States .
- McArt, S. (2017). Summary of Mitchell et al. 2017 [Science 358: 109-111]: "A worldwide survey of neonicotinoids in honey". p. 1283-1284 American Bee Journal, Notes from the lab: The latest bee science distilled Dadant & Sons, Inc., Hamilton, IL, United States .