Research Staff

Robbie Hart
Director, William L. Brown Center and Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum
William L. Brown Curator of Economic Botany

office phone: + 1 (314) 577-9473 x6318
fax: + 1 (314) 577-0800
email: robbie.hart@mobot.org

Missouri Botanical Garden
4344 Shaw Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63110

Education
Ph.D., University of Missouri-St. Louis
B.A., Swarthmore College, PA, 2004
A.A. Honors, Peninsula College, WA, 2000

Ethnobotany / Ethnobiology Plant Ecology Climate Change Montane and Alpine Ecosystems
Current Projects
Best practices in mountain ecological and social-ecological monitoring Longterm monitoring of alpine biodiversity, ethnobotanical knowledge, and climate change in the Himalaya and other mountain regions Patterns and processes in Himalayan biodiversity and indigenous-language traditional ecological knowledge Quantitative methods for social-ecological analysis Connecting biodiversity to food security for human wellbeing

Papers
* - student first author L. Iannotti, T. Randrianarivony, A. Randrianasolo, F. Rakotoarivony, T. Andriamihajarivo, M. LaBrier, E. Gyimah, S. Vie, A. Nunez-Garcia, R. Hart. 2024. Wild foods are positively associated with diet diversity and child growth in a protected forest area of Madagascar. Current Developments in Nutrition. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.102101 JRF Lima*, TKN Carvalho, RS Souza, R Hart, RW Bussmann, HF Magalhães, RCS Oliveira, RFP de Lucena. 2023. Can the traditional use of native plant species in rural communities in the Brazilian semi-arid region be affected by global warming? Ethnobiology and Conservation 12. doi: https://doi.org/10.15451/ec2023-06-12.11-1-21. JF Trani and R Hart. 2023. Student engagement and attendance are central mechanisms interacting with inclusive and equitable quality education: Evidence from Afghanistan and Pakistan. PLOS One. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290456. J Salick, R. Hart, and L. Siyu. 2022. Naxi Cosmology of Mt. Yulong Sacred Sites with Caveats for Conservation. Review d’ethnoécologie 21. doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/ethnoecologie.8929. IU Rahman*, R Hart, F Ijaz, A Afzal, Z Iqbal, ES Calixto, EF Abd_Allah, AA Alqarawi, A Hashem, ABF Al-Arjani, R Kausar, SM Haq. 2022. Environmental variables drive plant species composition and distribution in the moist temperate forests of Northwestern Himalaya, Pakistan. PLOS One 17: e0260687. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260687. S Basnett, SK Nagaraju, R Hart, and SM Devy. 2021. Floral traits and community phylogenetic structure shape plant-pollinator interactions in co-occurring Rhododendrons in the Himalaya’ Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 53: 125646. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125646. IU Rahman,* A Afzal, Z Iqbal, R Hart, EF Abd Allah, AA Alqarawi, MS Alsubeie, ES Calixto, F Ijaz, N Ali, R Kausar, M Shah, RW Bussmann. 2020. Response of plant physiological attributes to altitudinal gradient: Plant adaptation to temperature variation in the Himalayan region. Science of The Total Environment 706: 1357140. J Zenderland*, R Hart, R Bussmann, NY Paniagua Zambrana, S Shikharulidze, Z Kikividze, D Koikodze, D Tchelidze, M Khutsishvili, K Batatsashvili. 2019. The Use of “Use Value”: Quantifying importance in ethnobotany. Economic Botany 73:3 293-303. doi: 10.1007/s12231-019-09480-1. J Salick, Fang ZD and R Hart. 2019. Rapid changes in eastern Himalayan alpine flora with climate change. American Journal of Botany 106 (4): 520-530. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1263 WL Applequist, JA Brinckmann, AB Cunningham, R Hart, M Heinrich, DR Katerere, T van Andel. 2019. Scientists’ warning on climate change and medicinal plants. Plants Medica. doi: 10.1055/a-1041-3406. R Hart and RW Bussmann. 2018. Trans-Himalayan transmission, or convergence? Stauntonia (Lardizabalaceae) as an ethnoveterinary medicine. Medicina nei Secoli 30: 141-160. RW Bussmann, NY Paniagua Zambrana, R Hart, AL Moya Huanca, GO Soria, MO Vaca, DO Álvarez, JS Morán, MS Morán, S Chávez, BC Moreno, GC Moreno, O Roca & E Siripi. Who should conduct ethnobotanical studies? Effects of different interviewers in the case of the Chácobo Ethnobotany project. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 14:9. doi: 10.1186/s13002-018-0210-2. R Hart and J Salick. 2018. Vulnerability of phenological progressions over season and elevation to climate change: Rhododendrons of Mt. Yulong. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 34:129-139. doi: 10.1016/j.ppees.2018.09.001. R Hart and S Ranjitkar. 2018. Monitoring rhododendron flowering times in a changing climate. Rhododendrons International 3. RW Bussmann, NY Paniagua Zambrana, C Romero, R Hart. 2018. Astonishing diversity — the medicinal plant markets of Bogotá, Colombia. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 14:43. doi: 10.1186/s13002-018-0241-8. NY Paniagua Zambrana, RW Bussmann, R Hart, AL Moya Huanca, GO Soria, MO Vaca, DO Álvarez, JS Morán, MS Morán, S Chávez, BC Moreno, GC Moreno, O Roca & E Siripi. 2018. To list or not to list? The value and detriment of freelisting in ethnobotanical studies. Nature Plants 4:201–204. doi: 10.1038/s41477-018-0128-7. NY Paniagua Zambrana, RW Bussmann, R Hart, AL Moya Huanca, GO Soria, MO Vaca, DO Álvarez, JS Morán, MS Morán, S Chávez, BC Moreno, GC Moreno, O Roca & E Siripi. 2018. Research Methods Leading to a Perception of Knowledge Loss—One Century of Plant Use Documentation Among the Chácobo in Bolivia. Economic Botany. doi: 10.1007/s12231-018-9401-y. R Hart and J Salick. 2017. Dynamic ecological knowledge systems amid changing place and climate: Mt. Yulong rhododendrons. Journal of Ethnobiology 37: 21-36. doi: 10.2993/0278-0771-37.1.21. H Sher, RW Bussmann & R Hart. 2017. Promoting Sustainable Use of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for Livelihood Improvement and Biodiversity Conservation under Global Climate Change, through Capacity Building in the Himalaya Mountains, Swat District, Pakistan. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 102: 309-15. doi: 10.3417/D-16-00001A. R Hart, EM Georgian, and J Salick. 2016. Fast and Cheap in the Fall: Phylogenetic determinants of late flowering phenologies in Himalayan Rhododendron (Ericaceae). American Journal of Botany 103: doi: 10.3732/ajb.1500440. RW Bussmann, NY Paniagua Zambrana, LA Moya Huanca and R Hart. 2016. Changing markets - medicinal plants in the markets of La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.07.074. H Sher, RW Bussmann, R Hart, and HJ de Boer. 2016. Traditional use of medicinal plants among Kalasha, Ismaeli and Sunni groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.04.059. RJ Thoni and R Hart. 2015. Repatriating a lost name: notes on McClelland and Griffith's Cobitis boutanensis (Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 3999: 291 – 294. R Hart, J Salick, S Ranjitkar, and Xu JC. 2014. Herbarium specimens show contrasting phenological responses to Himalayan climate. PNAS 111:29 10615-10619. S Ranjitkar, R Kindt, N M Sujakhu, R Hart, W Guo, XF Yang, KK Shrestha, JC Xu, E Luedeling. 2014. Separation of the bioclimatic spaces of Himalayan tree rhododendron species predicted by ensemble suitability models. Global Ecology and Conservation 1: 2-12.
Book Chapters J Salick, B Staver and R Hart. 2020. Indigenous knowledge and dynamics among Himalayan peoples, vegetation and climate change. In Changing Climate, Changing Worlds, M Welch-Devine, A Sourdril and BJ Burke (eds.). Springer. J Salick, A Byg, K Konchar and R Hart. 2018. Coping with Climate: Innovation and Adaptation in Tibetan Land Use and Agriculture. In Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change. D Nakashima and J Rubin (eds), pp. 123 – 141. Cambridge University Press. R Hart, W Law and P W Jackson. 2014. Biocultural collections for conservation. In Curating Biocultural Collections, J Salick, K Konchar and M Nesbitt (eds.), pp. 329-346. Kew Press. R Hart. 2007. Written Word, Oral World. In Book of Peoples of the World, Wade Davis, K D Harrison and C H Howell (eds.), pp. 252-255. National Geographic Society.
Books and Theses Climate-driven Change in Himalayan Rhododendron Phenology. 2015. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Biology, University of Missouri - St. Louis. Up and Down the Mountain. 2004. BA Thesis, Department of Linguistics, Swarthmore College, PA.