People

Tobias Mueller

PhD Student

My research interests broadly encompass solitary bees, microbiome formation and disruption, and agriculture. Solitary bees, like many organisms, require an often specific microbiome for successful development. Unlike social bees (such as honeybees) solitary bees have no transmission of a microbiome from their mother or siblings, instead collecting a larval microbiome from pollen provisions, largely consisting of environmental microbes collected by the mother, and upon emergence as adults collecting a new microbiome during foraging, again largely consisting of environmental microbes. I am curious how and to what degree the application of antifungals and antibiotics frequently used in agricultural systems disrupt this process of microbiome acquisition and bee development. 

Before coming to Cornell I received a B.Sc in environmental science from UC Davis in 2017 while performing research on disease induced cannibalism in the generalist hemipteran Geocoris. After graduating I worked as a researcher with Dr. Jay Rosenheim looking at early season pests in California citrus across fruit cultivars. I then left academia for a stint working in mosquito vector control for Sacramento county, only to realize how much I missed research and quickly came running back, working for two years with Dr. Rachel Vannette analyzing nectar chemistry and how nectar compounds shape nectar microbial community formation. 

I am currently a PhD student in the Cornell department of entomology, co-advised by Dr. Bryan Danforth and Dr. Scott McArt.