Hannah Marx

Assistant Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section

Dr. Hannah Marx is an Assistant Professor and Director of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium specializing in plant evolutionary ecology. Her research focuses on addressing fundamental questions about the drivers of biodiversity patterns across space and time in natural ecosystems. She employs a combination of fieldwork and bioinformatic approaches to explore diversity dynamics within plant communities, particularly in oceanic and alpine "sky" islands. Central to her work is the development and utilization of herbarium collections, which are vital for documenting and conserving plant diversity. Dr. Marx's long-term goal is to bridge themes from ecology and evolution to develop actionable scientific tools for predicting and managing future changes to plant ecosystems.

Visit the Marx Lab website for more information.

Education

Doctorate, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, University of Idaho, 2016
Bachelor of Science, Biology: Plant Biology, University of Washington, 2008
Graduate Fields: Plant Biology

Interests

Biodiversity & Biogeography

Alpine flora

Herbarium and museum science

Recent Research

Visit the Marx Lab website for more information:

Selected Publications:

Lombardi EM & Marx HE. Herbaria as critical resources for studying plant-virus biodiversity and epidemiology. 2025. American Journal of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16463
Lombardi EM, Faust H & Marx HE. Synthesizing historical plant collections to identify priorities for future collection efforts and research applications. 2024. Ecosphere. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70102
Feng K, Walker JF, Marx HE, Goncalves DJP, Yang Y, Brockington SF, Moore MF, Rabeler RK & Smith SA. The link between ancient whole-genome duplications and cold adaptations in the Caryophyllaceae. 2024. American Journal of Botany e16350. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16350
Figueroa H, Marx HE, Beatriz de Souza Cortez M, Grady C, Engle-Wrye NJ, Beach J, Stewart A, Folk R, Soltis D, Soltis P & Smith S. 2022. Contrasting patterns of phylogenetic diversity and alpine specialization across the alpine flora of the American mountain range system. Alpine Botany 132: 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-021-00261-y
Marx HE, Carboni M, Douzet R, Perrier C, Delbart F, Thuiller W, Lavergne S, Tank D. 2021. Can functional genomic diversity provide novel insights into mechanisms of community assembly? A pilot-study from an invaded alpine streambed. Ecology and Evolution 11: 12075– 12091. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7973
Marx HE, Richards M, Johnson GM & Tank DC. 2019. Increasing phylogenetic stochasticity at high elevations on summits across a remote North American wilderness. American Journal of Botany 106(7): 958–970. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1328
Marx HE, Dentant C, Renaud J, Delunel R, Tank DC & Lavergne S. 2017. Riders in the sky (islands): using a mega-phylogenetic approach to understand plant species distribution and coexistence at the altitudinal limits of angiosperm plant life. Journal of Biogeography 44(11): 2618–2630. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13073

Contact Information

420 Mann Library
Ithaca, NY 14853

hem73 [at] cornell.edu

More information

Marx Lab website
Google Scholar profile

Hannah in the news

Spotlight

April 22, 2025

Meet our faculty: Hannah Marx

Academic focus: Alpine botany, biodiversity, museum science Research summary: My research aims to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that generate and maintain biodiversity across space and time in alpine “sky islands” on...

School of Integrative Plant Science
Plant Biology Section
Plants

A bumblebee on a blossoming plant outside Warren Hall in spring.

News

April 22, 2025

Meet our new faculty - spring 2025

Hannah Marx

Contact Information

More information

Hannah in the news