James McClelland

Dr. James McClelland studies nutrient dynamics in the environment, with a strong emphasis on understanding the role of land-derived carbon and nitrogen in coastal ecosystems. Environmental changes as a consequence of human activity, including changes in land use, land cover, and global warming, provide the context for much of his work. These changes are having a profound influence on transport of water and water-borne material from rivers to estuaries. In turn, changes in river inputs to estuaries are altering fundamental ecosystem properties such as primary production and food web structure. Much of Dr. McClelland's work has focused on the Arctic over the past decade. He co-founded the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (www.arcticgreatrivers.org), a pan-arctic effort that has greatly improved estimates of river inputs to the Arctic Ocean and established a solid baseline for tracking future changes. His work in the Arctic has also included more focused studies on the North Slope of Alaska, examining nutrient transport and processing at a variety of scales. Dr. McClelland earned a B.S. in zoology from the University of Washington in 1991 and a Ph.D. in biology from Boston University in 1998. He became a faculty member at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in 2006, where he is currently an Associate Professor.