Erica McCormick

All Publications

• Substantial root-zone water storage capacity observed by GRACE and GRACE/FO HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES Zhao, M., McCormick, E. L., Geruo, A., Konings, A. G., Li, B. 2025; 29 (10): 2293-2307

  View details for DOI 10.5194/hess-29-2293-2025

  View details for Web of Science ID 001490211100001

• Susceptibility to Photosynthesis Suppression From Extreme Storms Is Highly Site-Dependent GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY Mccormick, E. L., Famiglietti, C. A., Feng, D., Michalak, A. M., Konings, A. G. 2025; 31 (5): e70257

  Abstract

  Extreme storms are becoming more intense and frequent under climate change. Although these extreme wet events are smaller in extent and duration than drought events, recent evidence suggests the global impact of both extremes is similar. However, the impact of individual extreme storms on photosynthesis-and therefore on vegetation and the carbon cycle-remains difficult to predict, as photosynthesis may be suppressed via waterlogging or increased by the alleviation of moisture stress. Here, we use random forest models to calculate daily photosynthesis anomalies attributable to extreme soil moisture using data from 54 FLUXNET sites across the globe. We hypothesize that photosynthesis' response to a given extreme event is primarily controlled by storm intensity, and to a lesser degree by site vegetation, climate, soil, and topography. However, we find instead that photosynthesis responses are better explained by site characteristics (soil texture, climate, topography, and vegetation density) than by storm intensity, such that the likelihood of waterlogging from a given storm is heavily site-dependent. Although storms that induce waterlogging are roughly as common as those that induce stress alleviation overall, photosynthesis rarely declines at sites not prone to waterlogging. Instead, photosynthesis anomalies at these sites show a much weaker relationship with storm intensity. Increasingly intense storms are therefore unlikely to impact all locations equally. This highlights the potential to use site characteristics to enhance prediction of storm effects on ecosystems and the land carbon sink.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/gcb.70257

  View details for Web of Science ID 001492365200001

  View details for PubMedID 40400371

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12096146

• Tree species explain only half of explained spatial variability in plant water sensitivity. Global change biology Konings, A. G., Rao, K., McCormick, E. L., Trugman, A. T., Williams, A. P., Diffenbaugh, N. S., Yebra, M., Zhao, M. 2024; 30 (7): e17425

  Abstract

  Spatiotemporal patterns of plant water uptake, loss, and storage exert a first-order control on photosynthesis and evapotranspiration. Many studies of plant responses to water stress have focused on differences between species because of their different stomatal closure, xylem conductance, and root traits. However, several other ecohydrological factors are also relevant, including soil hydraulics, topographically driven redistribution of water, plant adaptation to local climatic variations, and changes in vegetation density. Here, we seek to understand the relative importance of the dominant species for regional-scale variations in woody plant responses to water stress. We map plant water sensitivity (PWS) based on the response of remotely sensed live fuel moisture content to variations in hydrometeorology using an auto-regressive model. Live fuel moisture content dynamics are informative of PWS because they directly reflect vegetation water content and therefore patterns of plant water uptake and evapotranspiration. The PWS is studied using 21,455 wooded locations containing U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis plots across the western United States, where species cover is known and where a single species is locally dominant. Using a species-specific mean PWS value explains 23% of observed PWS variability. By contrast, a random forest driven by mean vegetation density, mean climate, soil properties, and topographic descriptors explains 43% of observed PWS variability. Thus, the dominant species explains only 53% (23% compared to 43%) of explainable variations in PWS. Mean climate and mean NDVI also exert significant influence on PWS. Our results suggest that studies of differences between species should explicitly consider the environments (climate, soil, topography) in which observations for each species are made, and whether those environments are representative of the entire species range.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/gcb.17425

  View details for PubMedID 39005206

• The Age of Evapotranspiration: Lower-Bound Constraints From Distributed Water Fluxes Across the Continental United States WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Hahm, W. J., Lapides, D. A., Rempe, D. M., McCormick, E. L., Dralle, D. N. 2022; 58 (10)

  View details for DOI 10.1029/2022WR032961

  View details for Web of Science ID 000863633800001

• Widespread woody plant use of water stored in bedrock NATURE McCormick, E. L., Dralle, D. N., Hahm, W., Tune, A. K., Schmidt, L. M., Chadwick, K., Rempe, D. M. 2021; 597 (7875): 225-+

  Abstract

  In the past several decades, field studies have shown that woody plants can access substantial volumes of water from the pores and fractures of bedrock1-3. If, like soil moisture, bedrock water storage serves as an important source of plant-available water, then conceptual paradigms regarding water and carbon cycling may need to be revised to incorporate bedrock properties and processes4-6. Here we present a lower-bound estimate of the contribution of bedrock water storage to transpiration across the continental United States using distributed, publicly available datasets. Temporal and spatial patterns of bedrock water use across the continental United States indicate that woody plants extensively access bedrock water for transpiration. Plants across diverse climates and biomes access bedrock water routinely and not just during extreme drought conditions. On an annual basis in California, the volumes of bedrock water transpiration exceed the volumes of water stored in human-made reservoirs, and woody vegetation that accesses bedrock water accounts for over 50% of the aboveground carbon stocks in the state. Our findings indicate that plants commonly access rock moisture, as opposed to groundwater, from bedrock and that, like soil moisture, rock moisture is a critical component of terrestrial water and carbon cycling.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41586-021-03761-3

  View details for Web of Science ID 000695818300012

  View details for PubMedID 34497393

• Technical note: Accounting for snow in the estimation of root zone water storage capacity from precipitation and evapotranspiration fluxes HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES Dralle, D. N., Hahm, W., Chadwick, K., McCormick, E., Rempe, D. M. 2021; 25 (5): 2861-2867

  View details for DOI 10.5194/hess-25-2861-2021

  View details for Web of Science ID 000657181000002

• LEAF: Logger for ecological and atmospheric factors HARDWAREX Matheny, A. M., Marchetto, P., Powell, J., Rechner, A., Chuah, J., McCormick, E., Pierce, S. A. 2019; 6

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ohx.2019.e00079

  View details for Web of Science ID 000646610000007

• Plant Hydraulic Trait Covariation: A Global Meta-Analysis to Reduce Degrees of Freedom in Trait-Based Hydrologic Models FORESTS Mursinna, A., McCormick, E., Van Horn, K., Sartin, L., Matheny, A. M. 2018; 9 (8)

  View details for DOI 10.3390/f9080446

  View details for Web of Science ID 000443254400005