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Professor Jennifer Mc Elwain

Professor of Botany (1711) (Botany)
BOTANY SCHOOL
      
Profile Photo

Professor Jennifer Mc Elwain

Professor of Botany (1711) (Botany)
BOTANY SCHOOL

 jmcelwai@tcd.ie

 3531896 2294


Jennifer (Jenny) McElwain holds the 1711 Chair of Botany at Trinity College Dublin's School of Natural Sciences. She is currently the Head of Botany within the School and Director of Trinity Botanic Gardens. Over the past 20 years her research and teaching have focused on the development and use of palaeobotanical methods (proxies) that use fossil plants to reconstruct the evolution of Earth's atmospheric composition and climate on multimillion year timescales. Her research team use both fossil plants and modern experimentation to investigate how fluctuations in atmospheric composition and climate have influenced plant evolution and ecology throughout Earth history. Her research programme has been successfully funded through both national and international grants and awards including Science Foundation Ireland, Irish Research Council, European Research Council, US National Science Foundation, National Geographic and Marie Curie. She was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in June 2017 and awarded for Excellence in EU research by the President of Ireland in 2012. She has published over 100 internationally peer reviewed publication and two editions of a well-regarded textbook The Evolution of Plants, Oxford University Press. She acted as a board member of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice and is currently the Chair of the Royal Irish Academy Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Science. Before joining TCD in 2017, she was an Associate Professor/Professor at University College Dublin for 11 years, a curator of fossil plants at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (2000-2006) and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield, UK (2003-2006). She graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA Botany in 1993 and from Royal Holloway University of London with a PhD in 1997. Lab web page: https://plantclimatelab.ie/
  Botany   CLIMATE CHANGE   PALAEOCLIMATE   Palaeoecology
Project Title
 TERRAFORM; The Evolution of Plant Functional Traits and How they Terraformed Earth
From
05/07/2021
To
30/09/2026
Summary
The ERC-funded TERRAFORM project will study how plants made our planet habitable over millions of years. Specifically, it will explore plant life and the evolution of plant characteristics or 'traits' over the past 300 million years and how these influenced large scale processes, such as the hydrological cycle and weathering. The project will bring together concepts and data sources from modern-day ecology, paleo-Earth weathering and decomposition experiments, climate modelling and high resolution analyses of fossil plants. It will quantify land plants' impact on the carbon, nutrient and hydrological cycles in deep time. The findings will help scientists better understand biosphere impacts on Earth today.
Funding Agency
European Research Council
Programme
ERC-2020-ADG
Project Type
5 year team research
Project Title
 Irealnd's 5 Year Climate Assessment Report - Writer Support Award - Volume 1A
From
01/01/2021
To
Summary
Funding Agency
Environmental Protection Agency
Project Type
Post Doc Fellowship
Project Title
 Climate Change and Land Use in Ireland
From
2018
To
2021
Summary
Funding Agency
Environmental Protection Agency
Project Type
Post Doc Fellowship
Project Title
 Future Mangroves: Effects of Climate Change on mangrove forests in semi-arid regionss
From
2018
To
2020
Summary
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council
Project Type
Post Doc Fellowship
Project Title
 PlantSenseKit -Plants as sensors for standardization and calibration of controlled environment chambers (PI)
From
01/09/2017
To
Summary
Funding Agency
ERC
Programme
ERC POC
Project Type
Proof of Concept

Page 1 of 4
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
Details Date From Date To
Member of The Royal Irish Academy 2017 Present
Board Member, Mary Robinson Climate Justice Foundation Board of Directors 2015 Present
Yajima, Midori and Murray, Michelle and Chondrogiannis, Christos and Waldren, Stephen and McElwain, Jennifer, A framework for long-term environmental monitoring using living plant collections in botanic gardens: A global review and case study from Trinity College Botanic Garden, Plants, People, Planet, 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Ahmad S., Wang M., Bates A., Martini F., Regan S., Saunders M., Liu H., McElwain J., Gill L., Flatlining fens? Small-scale variations in peat properties and microtopography as indica-tors of ecosystem homogenisation, Ecological Indicators, 172, 2025, p113317 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Zhang, Xiaoqing and Royer, Dana L and Colombi, Carina E and Drovandi, Juan Martin and McElwain, Jennifer C and Guignard, Ga{\"e, Fossil leaf cuticle: Best practices for preparation and paleo-CO2 analysis, Earth-Science Reviews, 2025, p105104 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Kovács, E.B. and Ruhl, M. and Silva, R.L. and McElwain, J.C. and Reolid, M. and Korte, C. and Ruebsam, W. and Hesselbo, S.P., Mercury sequestration pathways under varying depositional conditions during Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian and Toarcian) Karoo-Ferrar volcanism, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 637, (111977), 2024, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Kipp, M.A. and StÃŒeken, E.E. and Strömberg, C.A.E. and Brightly, W.H. and Arbour, V.M. and Erdei, B. and Hill, R.S. and Johnson, K.R. and KvaÄ ek, J. and McElwain, J.C. and Miller, I.M. and Slodownik, M. and Vajda, V. and Buick, R., Nitrogen isotopes reveal independent origins of N2-fixing symbiosis in extant cycad lineages, Nature Ecology and Evolution, 8, (1), 2024, p57-69 , Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Soh, W.K. and Yiotis, C. and Murray, M. and Pene, S. and Naikatini, A. and Dornschneider-Elkink, J.A. and White, J.D. and Tuiwawa, M. and McElwain, J.C., Stomata Are Driving the Direction of CO2-Induced Water-Use Efficiency Gain in Selected Tropical Trees in Fiji, Biology, 13, (9), 2024, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
McElwain, J.C. and Matthaeus, W.J. and Barbosa, C. and Chondrogiannis, C. and O' Dea, K. and Jackson, B. and Knetge, A.B. and Kwasniewska, K. and Nair, R. and White, J.D. and Wilson, J.P. and Montañez, I.P. and Buckley, Y.M. and Belcher, C.M. and Nogué, S., Functional traits of fossil plants, New Phytologist, 242, (2), 2024, p392-423 , Notes: [cited By 1], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Haughey, E. and McElwain, J.C. and Finn, J.A., Annual yields of multispecies grassland mesocosms outperformed monocultures across a drought gradient due to complementarity effects and rapid recovery, Grassland Research, 2, (4), 2023, p309-321 , Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Hönisch, B. and Royer, D.L. and Breecker, D.O. and Polissar, P.J. and Bowen, G.J. and Henehan, M.J. and Cui, Y. and Steinthorsdottir, M. and McElwain, J.C. and Kohn, M.J. and Pearson, A. and Phelps, S.R. and Uno, K.T. and Ridgwell, A. and Anagnostou, E. and Austermann, J. and Badger, M.P.S. and Barclay, R.S. and Bijl, P.K. and Chalk, T.B. and Scotese, C.R. and de la Vega, E. and DeConto, R.M. and Dyez, K.A. and Ferrini, V. and Franks, P.J. and Giulivi, C.F. and Gutjahr, M. and Harper, D.T. and Haynes, L.L. and Huber, M. and Snell, K.E. and Keisling, B.A. and Konrad, W. and Lowenstein, T.K. and Malinverno, A. and Guillermic, M. and Mejía, L.M. and Milligan, J.N. and Morton, J.J. and Nordt, L. and Whiteford, R. and Roth-Nebelsick, A. and Rugenstein, J.K.C. and Schaller, M.F. and Sheldon, N.D. and Sosdian, S. and Wilkes, E.B. and Witkowski, C.R. and Zhang, Y.G. and Anderson, L. and Beerling, D.J. and Bolton, C. and Cerling, T.E. and Cotton, J.M. and Da, J. and Ekart, D.D. and Foster, G.L. and Greenwood, D.R. and Hyland, E.G. and Jagniecki, E.A. and Jasper, J.P. and Kowalczyk, J.B. and Kunzmann, L. and KÃŒrschner, W.M. and Lawrence, C.E. and Lear, C.H. and Martínez-Botí, M.A. and Maxbauer, D.P. and Montagna, P. and A. Naafs, B.D. and Rae, J.W.B. and Raitzsch, M. and Retallack, G.J. and Ring, S.J. and Seki, O. and Sepúlveda, J. and Sinha, A. and Tesfamichael, T.F. and Tripati, A. and van der Burgh, J. and Yu, J. and Zachos, J.C. and Zhang, L., Toward a Cenozoic history of atmospheric CO2, Science, 382, (6675), 2023, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Matthaeus, W.J. and Macarewich, S.I. and Richey, J. and Montañez, I.P. and Mcelwain, J.C. and White, J.D. and Wilson, J.P. and Poulsen, C.J., A Systems Approach to Understanding How Plants Transformed Earth's Environment in Deep Time, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 51, 2023, p551-580 , Notes: [cited By 3], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

Page 1 of 16
Bea Jackson, Tcd masters Thesis chapter 3 and 4 data, tcd thesis , 2023, Dataset, PRESENTED
Bea Jackson, Thesis Chapter 2 - stomatal measurements CO2 dataset , TCD masters thesis, 2023, Notes: [Submitted for Research Masters Degree], Dataset, PRESENTED
Bea Jackson, Data for chapter 3 and 4 of masters thesis, Tcd thesis dataset, 2023, Dataset, PRESENTED
Jennifer McElwain, Marlene Hill-Donnelly and Ian Glasspool, Tropical Arctic; Lost Plants, Future Climates and the Discovery of Ancient Greenland, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2022, Book, PUBLISHED
Willis, K.J. and McElwain, J.C. , The Evolution of Plants, 2nd Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013, 1 - 400pp, Book, PUBLISHED
Willis, K.J. and McElwain, J.C. , The Evolution of Plants, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002, 1 - 400pp, Book, PUBLISHED
McElwain, J.C. , 'Atmospheric CO2 - Stomata' In: Briggs D.E.G. and Crowther P.R (eds), 2001, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
McElwain, J.C. , 'Evolution of the Atmosphere' In: Singer R (eds), 2000, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Visiting Fellowship, All Souls College, University of Oxford September 2025
Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in Environmental Science and Geoscience 2022
Elected Professorial Fellow of Trinity College Dublin May 2019
Elected Fellow of the Paleontological Society 2021
President's Medal, Palaeontological Assocaition 2017
Elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy 2017
Ireland's Champion of EU Research Award 2012 awarded by President M.D. Higgins 2012
Best Paper Award PALAIOS 2011
Featured scientist in L'Oreal's International Women in Science 2008
University of London Rita Madge Award for Academic Excellence 1996
University of London Webb Scholarship Award 1995
Trinity College Dublin, Senior Edge Prize 1993