Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 22/05/2026Now is the time to be ratcheting up ambition on methane - not weakening it. See our recent statement signed by more than 40 scientists urging governments to avoid adopting "temperature neutrality" related goals and metrics ⬇️ 010
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Thanks, Matthew! I’m so grateful for your mentorship and support. Looking forward to continuing our research collaborations at Stony Brook. 010
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Thanks, Rémi! Let’s connect sometime. I believe we have a lot of overlapping interests 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Thanks, Katie! You were such a huge part of helping me get here. Can’t wait to watch you get your dream job this year 🤍 120
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Likewise, if you’re interested in collaborating – reach out! 5/n 010
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025While I am not currently taking on students or postdocs, it’s never too early to reach out and start a conversation! I will be looking for folks to come work with me starting in Fall 2026 on data-driven and field-based experimental projects. 4/n 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025I will be continuing my research on #climatechange, #foodsystems, greenhouse gas mitigation, and land-based carbon removal. I’m also looking to expand into #bluecarbon, leveraging aquatic biomass in croplands as soil amendments for improved soil health. 3/n 120
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025After two-years, I will hopefully be joining SoMAS *officially* as an Assistant Professor starting in Fall 2027. You can learn more about the PRODiG+ Fellow program below. 2/n www.suny.edu/prodig-plus/suny.eduPRODiG at SUNYPRODiG - Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Growth will work to increase faculty diversity to better reflect the diversity of students across SUNY's 64 campuses. 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 16/09/2025🚨 Big News!! 🚨 I am so excited to announce that I’ve recently joined the faculty at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences @stonybrooku.bsky.social ! My initial position is as a faculty fellow under the SUNY PRODiG+ Fellowship Program. 1/n www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/soma... 480
Reposted by Shelby C. McClellandRichard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 24/07/2025Good 🧵 Friendly amendment: stop burning fossil fuels (responsible for 2/3 of historical CO2 emissions), and also stop deforestation & land-use change (the other 1/3). And if you do something that reduces fossil CO2 but increases land use and deforestation EVEN MORE, that’s an anti-solution. Avoid. 27621
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025To my co-author and PhD Advisor, Meagan Schipanski, THANK YOU! You let me dream up this project and supported me in diving deep into this research during my PhD. I learned so much through the ups and downs, and I am so grateful for the freedom to explore and grow as an ecologist. 000
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025While this work starts to broaden our mechanistic understanding of how compost contributes to soil carbon sequestration, we absolutely need more data, better analyses, and longer-term studies to understand carbon flows (and persistence of this new carbon) in managed grassland ecosystems! 7/N 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025To us, this suggests that the microbial community was more responsive to plant over compost-derived inputs. It also indicates that microbial-derived inputs were more important for building soil organic carbon in this managed grassland. 6/N 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025We used a path analysis to test our hypothesis. But what we found surprised us! Plants only indirectly increased soil organic matter; their effect was entirely mediated through the soil microbial community, especially bacteria. 5/N 101
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025Plants responded immediately, both in terms of productivity and community composition. Microbes, however, were slower to respond. We only observed community differences in the final growing season. There were also differences in microbial functional diversity. 4/N 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025Over three growing seasons in northern Colorado, we measured plant growth and diversity, microbial community composition and function, and soil carbon. We hypothesized that plants and microbes jointly contributed to the soil carbon response. What did we find? 3/N 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025Infrequent compost applications in managed grasslands can boost soil organic carbon stocks–even after discounting the carbon from the compost itself! Read our earlier work 👉 tinyurl.com/a3nzcwbs But! We still don’t fully understand how plants and microbes interact to build this carbon. 2/Ntinyurl.comInfrequent compost applications increased plant productivity and soil organic carbon in irrigated pasture but not degraded rangelandImproved agricultural soil management can facilitate the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help keep planetary warming at or below 2 °C… 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 23/07/2025✨ The LAST chapter of my dissertation is published! ✨ How do plant-soil feedbacks support carbon sequestration in grasslands receiving compost? Here’s what we learned ⬇️ tinyurl.com/muk2ufe5tinyurl.comSoil organic carbon sequestration mediated by plant–microbe interactions after compost applicationOrganic amendments like compost can enhance soil health and climate change mitigation in managed grassland ecosystems. We previously demonstrated in a northern Colorado cool-season pasture that infre... 141
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Our Research Briefing is now out in Nature Climate Change! We examine the spatially variable tradeoffs between climate change mitigation and crop yields under regenerative agriculture. Globally, safeguarding crop yields will substantially lower mitigation potential. Read more ➡️ rdcu.be/eo6lErdcu.beMaintaining crop yields limits mitigation potential of crop-land natural climate solutionsNature Climate Change - The adoption of natural climate solutions in crop-lands, such as cover crops, no tillage and residue retention, is widely assumed to provide both climate change mitigation... 020
Reposted by Shelby C. McClellandPaul Behrens @profpaulbehrens.bsky.social · 02/06/2025This is incredibly unfair: high-income nations with large dairy sectors are looking to adopt a "no additional warming" target, avoiding the methane cuts needed to meet international targets and pledges. We have written an open letter to the NZ PM and I spoke to the FT👇🧵 www.ft.com/content/2ea6...ft.comScientists accuse New Zealand and Ireland of trying to cover up livestock emissions‘Accounting trick’ to support methane-emitting sectors undermines fight against climate change, say researchers 712752
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Great coverage in the Cornell Chronicle of our paper including quotes from me and @dominicwoolf.bsky.social. Read here ➡️ tinyurl.com/yfmwy34htinyurl.comStudy offers insight into balancing climate solutions and crop yields | Cornell ChronicleA computer model analysis showed that global adoption of regenerative farming practices to improve soil health can benefit either greenhouse gas mitigation or crop yields but rarely both. 051
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025If you want to explore some earlier, related data, check out these high resolution soil organic carbon maps from my colleagues over at SoilsRevealed.org. 12/Nsoilsrevealed.orgSoils RevealedSoils Revealed platform lets you see past soil organic carbon losses and opportunities for future gains, to manage soil health that helps mitigate climate change, promote clean water and biodiversity. 011
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025If you don’t have time for all the details, but want to learn more about our key findings, check out our accompanying press release from NYU, www.nyu.edu/about/news-p.... Later I'll post the link to our Research Briefing from @natureportfolio.nature.com 11/Nnyu.eduScientists Identify Ways to Minimize Tradeoffs Between Crop Yields and Climate BenefitsResearch highlights where and how regenerative farming could lead to win-wins for climate-change mitigation and crop production 111
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025A special shoutout to @dominicwoolf.bsky.social @matthewhayek.bsky.social for your mentorship and support! 10/N 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025This study came out of an amazing collaboration between @cornelluniversity.bsky.social, @newyorkuniversity.bsky.social, CSU, @nature.org, @envdefensefund.bsky.social, and @woodwellclimate.bsky.social. Thanks to my collaborators who helped get this massive modeling effort to the finish line! 9/N 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025This research opens new possibilities for regenerative agriculture to provide climate and yield benefits, but shows its limits as a key climate solution. What food we produce is as important as how we produce it. Food system decarbonization must entail greater scrutiny of GHG-intensive foods 🥩🍗 8/N 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025We provide spatially-explicit adoption recommendations based on Pareto-optimal outcomes that balance climate and yield goals. By maintaining crop yields, we find that the maximum GHG mitigation potential of cover crops, no-till, and residue is about 85% lower than if we ignore yield outcomes. 7/N 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025What’s driving these outcomes? We used explainable machine learning to show that win-win outcomes are more likely in soils with higher clay content and lower initial soil nitrogen availability. Identifying these conditions helps us create a clearer decision-framework for adoption on farms. 6/N 140
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025Grass cover crops with no-till have the highest GHG mitigation potential (0.49 Pg CO2-eq yr-1) but lower crop yields (0.1 Pg yr-1) through 2100. Meanwhile, legume cover crops with no-till has clear crop yield benefits (0.28 Pg yr-1) over this timeframe but much lower mitigation potential. 5/N 111
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025One of our key findings is that win-win outcomes from adopting these practices are not as common as we once thought. Our analysis shows that it is difficult to maximize GHG mitigation and crop yield benefits, especially over longer time horizons, i.e., 2100. 4/N 120
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025We used DayCent to model future soil organic carbon, nitrous oxide, and crop yield responses to cover crops, no-till, and residue retention relative to fallow and tillage in maize, soybean, and wheat croplands. We included spatially-explicit management information and accounted for uncertainty. 3/N 100
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025The global food system contributes to ~1/3 of anthropogenic GHGs. Soil emissions alone are estimated to have contributed to 15% of global climate warming. At Cornell, we investigated how soil management impacts GHGs and crop productivity—because with rising food demand we must safeguard yields. 2/N 111
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 19/05/2025🚨New paper alert🚨 We show that maintaining crop yields lowers the global climate benefits of natural climate solutions on croplands. But, we highlight where win-win opportunities exist for these practices to contribute to climate and production goals. 1/N www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comManaging for climate and production goals on crop-lands - Nature Climate ChangeClimate mitigation through natural climate solutions in crop-lands may be a way to reconcile climate goals with food security. However, here the authors show that some natural climate solution practic... 12417
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 09/12/2024Happening in less than an hour! Our research asks if adopting intensification strategies and mitigation technologies (without lowering meat + milk demand) are *enough* to meet CH4 targets at global and regional scales Come by to find out if they are (or not) if you’re here at #AGU24! 031
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 06/12/2024If you won't be at AGU this year, and you're interested in learning more about our work, feel free to reach out! 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 06/12/2024I'll be presenting preliminary findings from ex-ante modeling I've conducted at NYU with @matthewhayek.bsky.social through the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection and the Dept. of Environmental Studies. 110
Shelby C. McClelland @scmcclelland.bsky.social · 06/12/2024Can 2050 cattle CH4 mitigation targets be met through intensification and mitigation technologies? Are these strategies enough to reduce CH4 without lowering consumption of meat and milk? Come see me at my poster during #AGU24 (GC13L-0336) on Monday, Dec. 9 from 13:40-17:30 EST to find out! 4104