Matthew Hare

Associate Professor, Natural Resources and the Environment Section

Director, Environment and Sustainability

a man with a white hat with sunglasses on them

Matt joined the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment in 2007. He graduated from College of the Atlantic with a BA in Human Ecology, earned a MS in zoology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a PhD in genetics at the University of Georgia. His graduate training in evolutionary and conservation genetics connected his field biology experience with research harnessing the power of DNA to inform us about population biology and evolutionary history. With a focus on aquatic population management and restoration, Matt utilizes genetic markers to measure processes such gene flow, hybridization and genetic changes from hatchery-based population supplementation. Matt also uses population genomics to investigate adaptive processes in organisms with a focus on conditions promoting rapid evolution.

Matt served on the curriculum committee for precursor cross-departmental environmental majors since 2012, chairing the ESS Curriculum Committee from 2016-2018 until its conversion to the cross-college E&S, where he continued to serve on the curriculum committee as chair of the Environmental Biology and Applied Ecology concentration until becoming director of the major. As director, Matt promotes curricular development that maintains the unique blend of a balanced interdisciplinary core within E&S, concentrations that promote deep training or innovative bridging, and experiences such as internships and a capstone course that prepare students for integrative work experiences.

Matt is a member of the graduate fields in Natural Resources, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Zoology & Wildlife Conservation. He is a Fellow in the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and a member of the Cornell Center for Computational and Population Genomics.

Areas of Expertise

Conservation genetics
Evolutionary genomics
Phylogeography
Marine biology

Recent Research

In marine environments there are few absolute barriers to dispersal, yet population genetic substructure and cryptic species are common in marine taxa that have high dispersal potential. This observation, and its implications for conservation and management, has focused the recent research of my lab group on two general questions:

In species with large population sizes and high genetic diversity, to what extent do evolutionary processes dynamically shape contemporary population differentiation at small spatial scales? How do these processes affect population resilience?
What genomic changes accompany selective breeding and how does interbreeding between domesticates and wild individuals affect fitness in the wild?

Selected Publications

Meek, Mariah H., N.R. Mamoozadeh, J. Glaubitz, M.P. Hare and C.E. Kraft. In press. Range-wide climate risk and adaptive potential in a cold-water fish species. Nature Communications.
Simon, Avi and M.P. Hare. In press. Microgeographic variation in gene expression plasticity under osmotic stress in wild eastern oyster juveniles (Crassostrea virginica). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part D: Genomics and Proteomics.
Zhao, Honggang, X. Guo, W. Wang, Z. Wang, P. Rawson, A. Wilbur, and M.P. Hare. 2024. Consequences of domestication in eastern oyster: Insights from whole genomic analyses. Evolutionary Applications 17(6): e13710.
Howlader, A., E. North, D. Munroe, M.P. Hare. 2024. Hindcasting estuarine bottom salinity using observing systems data and nonlinear regression, as applied to oysters in Delaware Bay. Estuaries and Coasts, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-024-01396-x Fletcher, N.K. and M.P. Hare. 2024. Population history and genetic structure in the western Atlantic surf clam (Spisula solidissima sp.). Journal of Shellfish Research 43(2):157-166.
Manuel, Emily C., M.P. Hare and D. Munroe. 2023. Consequences of salinity change, salinity history, and shell morphology on early growth of juvenile oysters. Journal of Shellfish Research 42(1): 21-28.
Gregory, Kaili M., K. McFarland and M.P. Hare. 2023. Reproductive phenology of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791), along a temperate estuarine salinity gradient. Estuaries and Coasts. Jan 25:1-6. DOI: 10.1007/s12237-022-01163-w
Kaganer, Alyssa W., G.S. Stapleton, E.M. Bunting and M.P. Hare. 2022. Aquatic eDNA can advance monitoring of a small-bodied terrestrial salamander and amphibian pathogen. Environmental DNA 01, 1– 12. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.316
Kaganer, Alyssa W., L.D. Nagel, T.E. Youker‐Smith, E.M. Bunting, and M.P. Hare. 2021. Environmental DNA‐derived pathogen gene sequences can expand surveillance when pathogen titers are decoupled in eDNA and hosts. Environmental DNA 3, 6:1192-1207.
Mao, X., Augyte, S., Huang, M., Hare, M.P., Bailey, D., Umanzor, S., Marty-Rivera, M., Robbins, K.R., Yarish, C., Lindell, S. and Jannink, J.L., 2020. Population Genetics of Sugar Kelp Throughout the Northeastern United States Using Genome-Wide Markers. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, p.694, DOI:10.3389/fmars.2020.00694
Bruce, S.A., Y. Kutsumi, C. Van Maaren, M.P. Hare. 2020. Habitat effects on stocking-induced changes in wild brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) genetic structure. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society online early, https://doi.org/10.1002/tafs.10239
McFarland, K., L.V. Plough, M. Nguyen, M.P. Hare. 2020. Are bivalves susceptible to domestication selection? Using starvation tolerance to test for potential trait changes in eastern oyster larvae. PLoS ONE 15(6): e0230222.
McFarland, K and M.P. Hare. 2018. Restoring oysters to urban estuaries: Redefining habitat quality for eastern oyster performance near New York City. PLoS ONE 13(11): e0207368.
Holley, J., K. McComas and M.P. Hare. 2018. Troubled Waters: Risk Perception and the Case of Oyster Restoration in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Marine Policy 91:104-112, DOI:10.1016/j.marpol.2018.01.024.
Bruce, S. A., Hare, M. P., Mitchell, M. W., & Wright, J. J. 2018. Confirmation of a unique and genetically diverse ‘heritage’ strain of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in a remote Adirondack watershed. Conservation Genetics 19(1):71-83, DOI:10.1007/s10592-017-1019-6.
Sutherland, C., Fuller, A.K., Royle, J.A., Hare, M.P. and Madden, S., 2018. Large-scale variation in density of an aquatic ecosystem indicator species. Scientific Reports 8, 8958 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26847-x

Courses Taught

ENVS 1111 - Roadmap to Success in E&S. Orientation class for first-year students entering Environment & Sustainability major.
NTRES 2830 - DNA, Genes and Genetic Diversity. Introductory genetics course designed for the Environment & Sustainability major.
NTRES 4100 - Advanced Conservation Biology. Co-taught with Evan Cooch, this class teaches the genetic and demographic fundamentals needed for population viability analysis.
NTRES 7283 - Special topics in molecular ecology including semesters focused on non-model genomics, phenotypic plasticity and conservation genomics

Contact Information

Fernow Hall 205
Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 255-5685

mph75 [at] cornell.edu

Additional Links

Matthew in the news

Yuqing Chen, a doctoral student and the study’s first author, searches for and counts baby oysters attached to shells in trays in Yonkers, New York.

News

June 9, 2026

Farmed oysters may boost New York’s dwindling wild populations

A new study offers genetic evidence and proof that farmed eastern oysters are adding to and breeding with wild eastern oyster populations in the western and central Long Island Sound.

Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
Natural Resources and the Environment Section
Biodiversity

News

February 12, 2026

Grants fund oyster restoration, ‘cattlevoltaics’

Five new projects from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and The Nature Conservancy seek to protect pollinators, restore oyster habitats, manage flood risk and support “cattlevoltaics.”

Cornell Atkinson
Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
Natural Resources and the Environment Section

Matthew Hare

Contact Information

Additional Links

Matthew in the news