Chelsea Clifford
LightNews LightNews
banner
ditchontologist.bsky.social
Chelsea Clifford
@ditchontologist.bsky.social
500 followers 860 following 200 posts
Sometime aquatic (socio-)ecologist 💦🌱🦟👥🏖️🌽🐄🛣️🏡🛥️🛶⛲️👩🏻‍🔬👩🏻‍🏫
Also: 🤕♿️✊🤝🐈📘🥾🏞️🎨🎻🧘🏻‍♀️
She/her/hers
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
kostyack.bsky.social
New Cornell-led study is the first ever to provide state-by-state projections of carbon emissions and water use by data centers. Estimates that data centers are on track to add 24-44M metric tons of CO2 pollution annually thru 2030, roughly equivalent to adding 5-10M cars per year to US roadways.
E&E News: 3-year study maps CO2 spikes from AI data center boom
The analysis also examines water use and offers a road map for lower emissions through states with considerable renewable resources.
subscriber.politicopro.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
environmicrobio.bsky.social
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
ditchontologist.bsky.social
If you, unlike me, are at #CERF2025, consider checking out this year's "transgression session" today in E10-C, 10-2:30, starting w/ Justus Jobe on forest *regeneration* before transgressing marsh, & wrapped w/ Matt Kirwan presenting our study of marsh lawns of Tangier Island (2:15). We have stories!
Landscape shot just before sunset, sun near center of image, with line of older houses and water tower below, calm water below that, picket fence below that, boardwalk at bottom center, with more water on either side. A woman (Grace Molino) steps out of the water behind the picket fence onto the boardwalk, causing ripples, backlit by the sun and its reflection, casting a long shadow on the boardwalk. She appears mostly as a dark silhouette, hair and face down, laden with bags and things she is carrying, wearing boots. Some blades of marsh grass polk up from the foreground water, and shadowy reflections of the picket fence and the houses are cast foreward onto the water below in the image. The image overall is gray, faintly blue and orange in places, with yellow orange highlights around the sun, limning the woman, and on the boardwalk. A few wet footprints reflect the sun on the baordwalk. A couple power lines cross the image at the top. Angled down looking at a child-sized toy pushmower, plastic, pink with teal wheels and top and gray handle, somewhat sunbleached. It sits in a corner of a yard, with green chain link fence at left and a black metal gate of vertical bars at right, in the edge of a shallow pool of brownish water that continues under the camera, on sparse mown marshgrass, beside a concrete sidewalk, partially buried in wrack of beige senesced marsh plant stems and leaves. The field crew- four adults, in boots, various shades of beige pants that are mostly at least partially wet, variously colored tops, and wearing hats and backpacks, one with a yellow meter stick poking out- slosh away from the camera near the middle of the frame, in calf-dep water, which persists throughout the image. They are walking down the middle of a street on Tangier; the foreground shows a manhole cover in a broadening of the street. Slight ripples and white bubbles trail behind them. To their left is a somewhat crooked white picket fence with green plants sprouting at the bottom, and to the right is a waist-high chainlink fence, with taller plants behind. Behind the fences are one- to two-story houses, lawn ornaments, and raised dark green golf carts. On the right are telephone poles, and electrical wires criscross the sky above, with a lit streetlight on the pole above their heads, though it is a cloudy gray daylight in the sky above their heads. In front of them in the distance is a seemingly lone (or perhaps double), somewhat sparse tree.
November 13, 2025 at 7:23 AM
ditchontologist.bsky.social
"What they observe is sewage overflowing into a drainage ditch or into the nearby woods." www.al.com/news/mobile/...
Sewage overflowing into ditches, woods, is a stinky issue. Baldwin County residents want it fixed
One Baldwin County resident has observed frequent sanitary sewer overflows at a lift station off State Highway 59 in Foley. Now, he's trying to get officials to take action.
www.al.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
amymaxmen.bsky.social
Human wastewater contamination is so bad in Alabama homes that 1 in 3 adults in one county had hookworm. Biden funded efforts to improve sanitation there. But the effort is cancelled as "DEI".

www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/...
Trump shut down program to end human waste backing into Alabama homes, calling it 'illegal DEI'
A $26 million federal program to help residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, who have dealt with inadequate sewage systems for decades was stopped by an executive order.
www.nbcnews.com
May 1, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
globalstewards.bsky.social
"If the smartest young minds in the world were dedicated to figuring how a declining population could support its elders, we would achieve that goal," he said. "I think we'd have a happier world, for people and wildlife."
www.npr.org/2025/11/01/n...
Could smaller families 'rewild' the planet — and make humans happier?
Many economists and business leaders are raising alarms about falling birthrates. But advocates for lower human populations say a less crowded world will be happier and more sustainable.
www.npr.org
November 1, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Well reported story on the PBS News Hour about science cuts and the ongoing and potential brain drain.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLvO...

Thanks to Terrance Tao and other scientists at various career stages for having the courage to speak out.

Watch and share!

1/7
Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
cmbeale.bsky.social
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some fun PhD opportunities. Today, if you're into hydrology, forests and wading 🪶 in Scotland this one might be for you! 🧪 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Rather famous scottish landscape with the west highlands railway looping through mountains. A forest plantation is evident. A few small people on the left are doing their best not to be recognised.
October 31, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
rachelburch.bsky.social
Welcome November, paintings by Edwardian artist Edith Holden.
Two books open at starling and bird paintings
November 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM
ditchontologist.bsky.social
Minor caveat: I do think PhD programs should yield folks able to work in field after, not just profit from student tenure as engines of academia (which, accurate; avoid phdcomics.com/comics/archi...). Student careers likely remain an afterthought, though, & scholars must exist for jobs to persist.
November 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
npr.org
Rats aren't just a nuisance. They can carry diseases and are a leading causes of property damage. One community in Massachusetts is trying a novel approach to rat reduction: Birth control. n.pr/43NUYNH
Too many rats? Birth control is one city's answer
Rats aren't just a nuisance. They can carry diseases and are a leading causes of property damage. One community in Massachusetts is trying a novel approach to rat reduction: Birth control.
n.pr
November 1, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
us.theconversation.com
What cemetery plants mean: A horticulture extension specialist explains how flowers, trees and other botanical motifs honor those buried beneath #DayOfTheDead #DioDeLosMuertos
Symbolism of cemetery plants: How flowers, trees and other botanical motifs honor those buried beneath
Many plants and flowers have symbolic meanings, and their presence on a grave may reflect something unique about the deceased.
buff.ly
November 1, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
egu.eu
💰 Do you need #financial #support to attend #EGU26?

#EGU is here to ease your participation!

Submit your abstract by 1 December 2025 and get support through one of our three participation support schemes for #EGU26!

👉 Learn more here: egu.eu/5AKEKI
📸: Jerome Mayaud on imaggeo.egu.eu
Image description: A road leading towards mountains. Text reads: 'travel support, fee waivers, and EDI participation support. Deadline to submit your abstract by 1 December 2025 for financial support."
November 1, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
higherjobz.bsky.social
PhD in Plant Ecology – University of Tübingen, Germany
Fully funded | HYPERSAPCE project on metal hyperaccumulation
Eligibility: MSc in Ecology or related field
Deadline: 10 December 2025
Details: higherjobz.com/phd-plant-ec...
#PhDPosition #Ecology #Europe #AcademicJobs #ResearchJobs #ScienceCareer
PhD in Plant Ecology – University of Tübingen | HigherJobz
Apply for a fully funded PhD in Plant Ecology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Join a top research team. Deadline: 10 December 2025.
higherjobz.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
zelalemt.bsky.social
🚨 We’re hiring! Join the Plant–Soil Microbiome Ecology & Innovation Lab
@UBC 🌱
Multiple positions available — details here 👉 lnkd.in/grbiN2Fc #MscPhDposition #Postdoc #Microbiome
October 31, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
emfurd.bsky.social
New audio story in Eos today! Ditches and moats are subbing in for witches and ghosts this Halloween. 🧙‍♀️👻
October 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
eos.org
Justice for ditches! Researchers are seeking to raise the profile of research into canals, dikes, moats, conduits, and gutters, also known as ditches. eos.org/articles/the... 🧪
The Role of a Ditch in the Matrix - Eos
These constructed waterways are often a “no-man’s-land” between terrestrial scientists and limnologists. But ditches’ role in transport, agriculture, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and even a...
eos.org
October 31, 2025 at 12:53 PM
ditchontologist.bsky.social
Shell middens suggest that Native Americans likely over-harvested oysters somewhat in the York River around 200 AD, then collectively organized to manage sustainably for 1,400 years, even through socio-political transitions. 🦪 -Martin Gallivan (hosted by Gloucester Historical Society 10/26/25)
October 30, 2025 at 8:15 PM
ditchontologist.bsky.social
Prescribed burns in salt marshes may not have some of the biogeochemical benefits associated with commercial biochars because marsh burns tend to be low temperature. -Andrew Wozniak, NERRS Science Collaborative (umich.zoom.us/webinar/regi...) 🧪
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The Effects of Prescribed Burns of Phragmites australis on Salt Marsh Ecosystem Services: An Ecosystem-based Management Approach. After registering, you wil...
Phragmites australis is an invasive grass species that affects many marshes along the U.S east coast, often displacing native grasses. Removing Phragmites has been a decades-long management goal as ma...
umich.zoom.us
October 30, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
brianmannadk.bsky.social
Code Switch team at @npr.org looks at the Population Shift by exploring how this trend has been leveraged by controversial 'pronatalist' figures. How Elon Musk and JD Vance plan to 'save civilization' with more babies : Code Switch www.npr.org/2025/10/29/n...
How Elon Musk and JD Vance plan to 'save civilization' with more babies : Code Switch
What do conservatives like JD Vance and tech executives like Elon Musk have in common? They, like other pronatalists, want to “save civilization” by having more American babies. But it wasn’t that lon...
www.npr.org
October 29, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
wolvendamien.bsky.social
…As can this conversation between Michelle Martin, @geedee215.bsky.social, and @baparker.bsky.social on the shared eugenicist roots of "overpopulation" and "pronatalism":
www.npr.org/2025/10/28/n...
The racial history of the 'overpopulation time bomb' and 'pronatalism' movements
Code Switch explores the racial history of two seemingly opposing movements that inform today's declining birthrates.
www.npr.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
thinkingautism.com
"When I began saying 'I’m autistic& disabled' something shifted. I stopped apologizing for my limits& started protecting my capacity. I stopped pretending my energy was endless& started recognizing it as finite, sacred& worth conserving." @lovettejallow.bsky.social:
open.substack.com/pub/lovettej...
If You’re Autistic, You Are Disabled
Why denying disability reinforces ableism and costs lives.Autism is disability, not disorder. This essay confronts internalised ableism, explains the social vs medical models, and reclaims disabled id...
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
legolostatsea.bsky.social
Hair barrettes/slides, all found washed up on Cornish beaches.
#plasticarchaeology #Anthropocene
October 28, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
peopleandnature.bsky.social
🌱New Research: Carbon and corms: Introduced ungulates and saltwater intrusion variably impact coastal floodplain ecosystem services in the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area, northern Australia ➡️ buff.ly/XUMG9Jl
October 15, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Chelsea Clifford
ymalhi.bsky.social
Our new review on the “circular seabird economy”
- how seabirds circulate nutrients betwem ocean and land, supporting ecosystems and livelihoods …https://www.nature.com/articles/s44358-025-00099-w
The circular seabird economy is critical for oceans, islands and people - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
Seabirds are top predators and nutrient cyclers in marine island ecosystems, but are threatened by risk of extinction. This Review explores the circular seabird economy around islands and discusses ho...
www.nature.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:28 AM