McCormick, Melissa
Ecologist
McCormick, Melissa
Ecologist
mycorrhizae; plant-fungus interactions; orchid-fungus interactions; molecular analysis of soil fungal communities.
Research Areas
Geographic Focus
Background And Education
Education And Training
- B.S., Trinity University
- Ph.D., Michigan State University
Awards And Honors
- Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award, conferred by Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Awards, 2018
Research And Grants
Co-principal Investigator On
Investigator On
- DEB: Collaborative Research: Microbiome Mediation of Multi-Trophic Interactions in a Tree Diversity Experiment awarded by National Science Foundation 2021 -
- Field Validation Methods to Improve SDM Use awarded by Davis & Elkins College 2019 -
- Collaborative Research: Ecosystem evolution and sustainability of nutrient enriched coastal saltmarshes awarded by Bryn Mawr College
- Examining the Role of Mycorrhizal Associations of Torreya Taxifolia in Preventing its Decline awarded by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
- MA08 Predicting Impacts of Stressors at the Land-water Interface - Microsatellite analysis to estimate Phragmites australis dispersal distances and es awarded by The Nature Conservancy
- Monitoring Small-Whorled Pogonia Along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline awarded by Dominion Energy Services, Inc.
- RAPID: Forest Productivity and Expression in a Low-Emissions Present: A RAPID Response to the COVID-19 Emissions Reduction awarded by National Science Foundation
- Survey of an Endangered Orchid awarded by Bray Hill, LLC
- TIDE: Legacy Effects of Long-Term Nutrient Enrichment on Recovery of Saltmarsh Ecosystem awarded by Bryn Mawr College
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Zale, Peter J., McCormick, Melissa K., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2022. "Choosing a Favorable Substrate to Cultivate Native Orchids Symbiotically: Examples Using Goodyera tesselata and Platanthera blephariglottis." HortScience, 57, (5) 634–642. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI16509-22. 2022
- Crain, Benjamin J., McCormick, Melissa, Zettler, Lawrence W., McGuinness, Julianne, and Whigham, Dennis. 2022. "Preserving the Orchids of Palau." The Orchid Review, 130, (1337) 24–29. 2022
- Mozdzer, Thomas J., McCormick, Melissa K., Slette, Ingrid J., Blum, Michael J., and Megonigal, J. Patrick. 2022. "Rapid evolution of a coastal marsh ecosystem engineer in response to global change." Science of the Total Environment, 853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157846. 2022
- Whigham, Dennis, McCormick, Melissa, Brooks, Hope, Josey, Brian, Floyd, Robert, and Applegate, Jason. 2021. "Isotria medeoloides, a North American Threatened Orchid: Fungal Abundance May Be as Important as Light in Species Management." Plants-Basel, 10, (9). https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10091924. 2021
- Kim, Sunghyun, Kang, Hojeong, Megonigal, J. Patrick, and McCormick, Melissa. 2021. "Microbial Activity and Diversity Vary with Plant Diversity and Biomass in Wetland Ecosystems." Estuaries and Coasts, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-01015-z. 2021
- Leray, Matthieu, Wilkins, Laetitia G. E., Apprill, Amy, Bik, Holly M., Clever, Friederike, Connolly, Sean R., De Leon, Marina E., Duffy, J. Emmett, Ezzat, Leila, Gignoux-Wolfsohn, Sarah, Herre, Edward Allen, Kaye, Jonathan Z., Kline, David I., Kueneman, Jordan G., McCormick, Melissa K., McMillan, W. Owen, O'Dea, Aaron, Pereira, Tiago J., Petersen, Jillian M., Petticord, Daniel F., Torchin, Mark E., Vega Thurber, Rebecca, Videvall, Elin, Wcislo, William T., Yuen, Benedict et al. 2021. "Natural experiments and long-term monitoring are critical to understand and predict marine host-microbe ecology and evolution." Plos Biology, 19, (8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001322. 2021
- McCormick, Melissa, Burnett, Robert, and Whigham, Dennis. 2021. "Protocorm-Supporting Fungi Are Retained in Roots of Mature Tipularia discolor Orchids as Mycorrhizal Fungal Diversity Increases." Plants-Basel, 10, (6). https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10061251. 2021
- Downing, Jason L., Liu, Hong, McCormick, Melissa K., Arce, Jay, Alonso, Dailen, and Lopez‐Perez, Jorge. 2020. "Generalized mycorrhizal interactions and fungal enemy release drive range expansion of orchids in southern Florida." Ecosphere, 11, (8) Article e03228. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3228. 2020
- McCormick, Melissa K., Whigham, Dennis F., Stapp, Jared R., Hazelton, Eric L. G., McFarland, Eliza K., and Kettenring, Karin M. 2020. "Shoreline modification affects recruitment of invasive Phragmites australis." Wetlands Ecology and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09757-6. 2020
- Ma, Yini, McCormick, Melissa K., Szlavecz, Katalin, and Filley, Timothy R. 2019. "Controls on soil organic carbon stability and temperature sensitivity with increased aboveground litter input in deciduous forests of different forest ages." Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 134 90–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2019.03.020. 2019
- Hazelton, Eric L. G., Downard, Rebekah, Kettenring, Karin M., McCormick, Melissa K., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2019. "Correction to: Spatial and Temporal Variation in Brackish Wetland Seedbanks: Implications for Wetland Restoration Following Phragmites Control (vol 41, pg S68, 2018)." Estuaries and Coasts, 42, (3) 907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-018-00500-2. 2019
- Leebens-Mack, James H., Barker, Michael S., Carpenter, Eric J., Deyholos, Michael K., Gitzendanner, Matthew A., Graham, Sean W., Grosse, Ivo, Li, Zheng, Melkonian, Michael, Mirarab, Siavash, Porsch, Martin, Quint, Marcel, Rensing, Stefan A., Soltis, Douglas E., Soltis, Pamela S., Stevenson, Dennis W., Ullrich, Kristian K., Wickett, Norman J., DeGironimo, Lisa, Edger, Patrick P., Jordon-Thaden, Ingrid E., Joya, Steve, Liu, Tao, Melkonian, Barbara, Miles, Nicholas W. et al. 2019. "One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants." Nature, 574, (7780) 679–685. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1693-2. 2019
- Griffin, Eric A., Harrison, Joshua G., McCormick, Melissa K., Burghardt, Karin T., and Parker, John D. 2019. "Tree Diversity Reduces Fungal Endophyte Richness and Diversity in a Large-Scale Temperate Forest Experiment." Diversity, 11, (12) 234. https://doi.org/10.3390/d11120234. 2019
- Shefferson, Richard P., Kull, Tiiu, Hutchings, Michael J., Selosse, Marc-Andre, Jacquemyn, Hans, Kellett, Kimberly M., Menges, Eric S., Primack, Richard B., Tuomi, Juha, Alahuhta, Kirsi, Hurskainen, Sonja, Alexander, Helen M., Anderson, Derek S., Brys, Rein, Brzosko, Emilia, Dostalik, Slavomir, Gregg, Katharine, Ipser, Zdenek, Jakalaniemi, Anne, Jersakova, Jana, Kettle, W. Dean, McCormick, Melissa K., Mendoza, Ana, Miller, Michael T., Moen, Asbjorn et al. 2018. "Drivers of vegetative dormancy across herbaceous perennial plant species." Ecology Letters, 21, (5) 724–733. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12940. 2018
- Szlavecz, Katalin, Chang, Chih-Han, Bernard, Michael J., Pitz, Scott L., Xia, Lijun, Ma, Yini, McCormick, Melissa K., Filley, Timothy, Yarwood, Stephanie A., Yesilonis, Ian D., and Csuzdi, Csaba. 2018. "Litter quality, dispersal and invasion drive earthworm community dynamics and forest soil development." Oecologia, 188, (1) 237–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4205-4. 2018
- McCormick, Melissa K., Whigham, Dennis F., and Canchani-Viruet, Armando. 2018. "Mycorrhizal fungi affect orchid distribution and population dynamics." New Phytologist, 219, (4) 1207–1215. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15223. 2018
- Unruh, Sarah A., McKain, Michael R., Lee, Yung-I, Yukawa, Tomohisa, McCormick, Melissa K., Shefferson, Richard P., Smithson, Ann, Leebens-Mack, James, and Pires, J. C. 2018. "Phylotranscriptomic analysis and genome evolution of the Cypripedioideae (Orchidaceae)." American Journal of Botany, 105, (4) 631–640. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1047. 2018
- Hazelton, Eric L. G., Downard, Rebekah, Kettenring, Karin M., McCormick, Melissa K., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2018. "Spatial and Temporal Variation in Brackish Wetland Seedbanks: Implications for Wetland Restoration Following Phragmites Control." Estuaries and Coasts, 41, (Supplement 1) 68–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0289-z. 2018
- Downing, Jason L., Liu, Hong, Shao, Shicheng, Wang, Xilong, McCormick, Melissa, Deng, Rongyan, and Gao, Jiangyun. 2017. "Contrasting changes in biotic interactions of orchid populations subject to conservation introduction vs. conventional translocation in tropical China." Biological Conservation, 212, Part A 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.05.021. 2017
- Eller, Franziska, Skálová, Hana, Caplan, Joshua S., Bhattarai, Ganesh P., Burger, Melissa K., Cronin, James T., Guo, Wen-Yong, Guo, Xiao, Hazelton, Eric L. G., Kettenring, Karin M., Lambertini, Carla, McCormick, Melissa K., Meyerson, Laura A., Mozdzer, Thomas J., Pyšek, Petr, Sorrell, Brian K., Whigham, Dennis F., and Brix, Hans. 2017. "Cosmopolitan Species As Models for Ecophysiological Responses to Global Change: The Common Reed Phragmites australis." Frontiers in Plant Science, 8 e1833. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.01833. 2017
- Rock-Blake, Rachel, McCormick, Melissa K., Brooks, Hope E. A., Jones, Cynthia S., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2017. "Symbiont abundance can affect host plant population dynamics." American Journal of Botany, 104, (1) 72–82. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1600334. 2017
- Whigham, Dennis F., Mirenda, Tom, O'Neill, Jay, and McCormick, Melissa K. 2016. "A chance for orchid lovers to benefit conservation." Orchids: the Magazine of the American Orchid Society, (January) 32–35. 2016
- Paudel, Shishir, Longcore, Travis, MacDonald, Beau, McCormick, Melissa K., Szlavecz, Katalin, Wilson, Gail W. T., and Loss, Scott R. 2016. "Belowground interactions with aboveground consequences: Invasive earthworms and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi." Ecology, 97, (3) 605–614. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-1085.1. 2016
- McCormick, Melissa K., Taylor, D. L., Whigham, Dennis F., and Burnett, Robert K. 2016. "Germination patterns in three terrestrial orchids relate to abundance of mycorrhizal fungi." Journal of Ecology, 104, (3) 744–754. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12556. 2016
- Sciance, M. Benjamin, Patrick, Christopher J., Weller, Donald E., Williams, Meghan N., McCormick, Melissa K., and Hazelton, Eric L. G. 2016. "Local and regional disturbances associated with the invasion of Chesapeake Bay marshes by the common reed Phragmites australis." Biological Invasions, 18, (9) 2661–2677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1136-z. 2016
- Kim, Sunghyun, Lee, Seunghoon, McCormick, Melissa, Kim, Jae Geun, and Kang, Hojeong. 2016. "Microbial Community and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Abandoned Rice Paddies with Different Vegetation." Microbial ecology, 72, (3) 692–703. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-016-0801-1. 2016
- McCormick, Melissa K., Brooks, Hope E. A., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2016. "Microsatellite analysis to estimate realized dispersal distance in Phragmites australis." Biological Invasions, 18, (9) 2497–2504. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1126-1. 2016
- Kowalski, Kurt P., Bacon, Charles, Bickford, Wesley, Braun, Heather, Clay, Keith, Leduc-Lapierre, Mich, Lillard, Elizabeth, McCormick, Melissa K., Nelson, Eric, Torres, Monica, White, James, and Wilcox, Douglas A. 2015. "Advancing the science of microbial symbiosis to support invasive species management: a case study on Phragmites in the Great Lakes." Frontiers in Microbiology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00095. 2015
- Hazelton, Eric L. G., McCormick, Melissa K., Sievers, Matthew, Kettenring, Karin M., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2015. "Stand Age is Associated with Clonal Diversity, but Not Vigor, Community Structure, or Insect Herbivory in Chesapeake Bay Phragmites australis." Wetlands, 35, (5) 877–888. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0678-7. 2015
- Hazelton, Eric L. G., McCormick, Melissa K., Sievers, Matthew, Kettenring, Karin M., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2015. "Stand Age is Associated with Clonal Diversity, but Not Vigor, Community Structure, or Insect Herbivory in Chesapeake Bay Phragmites australis." Wetlands, 35, (5) 877–888. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0678-7. 2015
- Ma, Yini, Filley, Timothy R., Szlavecz, Katalin, and McCormick, Melissa K. 2014. "Controls on wood and leaf litter incorporation into soil fractions in forests at different successional stages." Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 69 212–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.10.043. 2014
- Whigham, Dennis F., McCormick, Melissa K., and O'Neill, John P. 2014. "Ongoing studies of Isotria medeoloides, Small Whorled Pogonia." The Native Orchid Conference Journal, 11, (4) 6–11. 2014
- McCormick, Melissa K. and Jacquemyn, Hans. 2014. "What constrains the distribution of orchid populations?" New Phytologist, 202, (2) 392–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12639. 2014
- Szlavecz, Katalin, Pitz, Scott L., Bernard, Michael J., Xia, Lijun, O'Neill, John P., Chang, Chih-Han, McCormick, Melissa K., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2013. "Manipulating earthworm abundance using electroshocking in deciduous forests." Pedobiologia, 56, (1) 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2012.08.008. 2013
- McCormick, Melissa K., Parker, Kenneth L., Szlavecz, Katalin, and Whigham, Dennis F. 2013. "Native and exotic earthworms affect orchid seed loss." AoB Plants, 5 plt018. https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plt018. 2013
- Krupnick, Gary A., McCormick, Melissa K., Mirenda, Thomas, and Whigham, Dennis F. 2013. "The Status and Future of Orchid Conservation in North America." Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 99, (2) 180–198. https://doi.org/10.3417/2011108. 2013
- Ma, Yini, Filley, Timothy R., Johnston, Cliff T., Crow, Susan E., Szlavecz, Katalin, and McCormick, Melissa K. 2013. "The combined controls of land use legacy and earthworm activity on soil organic matter chemistry and particle association during afforestation." Organic Geochemistry, 58 56–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2013.02.010. 2013
- Meyerson, L. A., Lambertini, C., McCormick, Melissa K., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2012. "Hybridization of common reed in North America? The answer is blowing in the wind." AoB Plants, 2012 pls022. https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/pls022. 2012
- McCormick, Melissa K., Lee Taylor, D., Juhaszova, Katarina, Burnett, Robert K., Whigham, Dennis F., and O'Neill, John P. 2012. "Limitations on orchid recruitment: not a simple picture." Molecular Ecology, 21, (6) 1511–1523. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05468.x. 2012
- McCormick, Melissa K. and Whigham, Dennis F. 2012. "Using the complexities of orchid life histories to target conservation efforts." The Native Orchid Conference Journal, 9, (4) 14–23. 2012
- Szlavecz, Katalin, McCormick, Melissa K., Xia, Lijun, Saunders, Jaclyn, Morcol, Taylan, Whigham, Dennis F., Filley, Timothy, and Csuzdi, Csaba. 2011. "Ecosystem effects of non-native earthworms in Mid-Atlantic deciduous forests." Biological Invasions, 13, (5) 1165–1182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-9959-0. 2011
- Innis, Anne F., Forseth, Irwin N., Whigham, Dennis F., and McCormick, Melissa K. 2011. "Genetic diversity in the invasive Rubus phoenicolasius as compared to the native Rubus argutus using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers." Biological Invasions, 13, (8) 1735–1738. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-0012-0. 2011
- Shefferson, Richard P., McCormick, Melissa K., Whigham, Dennis F., and O'Neill, John P. 2011. "Life history strategy in herbaceous perennials: inferring demographic patterns from the aboveground dynamics of a primarily subterranean, myco-heterotrophic orchid." Oikos, 129, (9) 1291–1300. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2011.19130.x. 2011
- Kettenring, Karin M., McCormick, Melissa K., Baron, Heather M., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2011. "Mechanisms of Phragmites australis invasion: feedbacks among genetic diversity, nutrients, and sexual reproduction." Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, (5) 1305–1313. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02024.x. 2011
- Shefferson, Richard P., Cowden, Charles C., McCormick, Melissa K., Yukawa, Tomohisa, Ogura-Tsujita, Yuki, and Hashimoto, Toshimasa. 2010. "Evolution of host breadth in broad interactions: mycorrhizal specificity in East Asian and North American rattlesnake plantains (Goodyera spp.) and their fungal hosts." Molecular Ecology, 19, (14) 3008–3017. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04693.x. 2010
- McCormick, Melissa K., Kettenring, Karin M., Baron, Heather M., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2010. "Extent and Reproductive Mechanisms of Phragmites australis Spread in Brackish Wetlands in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland (USA)." Wetlands, 30, (1) 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-009-0007-0. 2010
- Kettenring, Karin M., McCormick, Melissa K., Baron, Heather M., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2010. "Phragmites australis (Common Reed) Invasion in the Rhode River Subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay: Disentangling the Effects of Foliar Nutrients, Genetic Diversity, Patch Size, and Seed Viability." Estuaries and Coasts, 33, (1) 118–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9241-1. 2010
- McCormick, Melissa K., Kettenring, Karin M., Baron, H. M., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2010. "Spread of invasive Phragmites australis in estuaries with differing degrees of development: genetic patterns, Allee effects and interpretation." Journal of Ecology, 98, (6) 1369–1378. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01712.x. 2010
- Whigham, Dennis F., Kettenring, Karin M., McCormick, Melissa K., and Baron, Heather. 2010. "The invasion of common reed (Phragmites australis) in Chesapeake Bay (USA)." Australian Plant Conservation, 18, (4) 17–18. 2010
- McCormick, Melissa K., Whigham, Dennis F., O'Neill, John P., Becker, Janie J., Werner, Sarah, Rasmussen, Hanne N., Bruns, Thomas D., and Taylor, D. Lee. 2009. "Abundance and distribution of Corallorhiza odontorhiza reflect variations in climate and ectomycorrhizae." Ecological Monographs, 79, (4) 619–635. https://doi.org/10.1890/08-0729.1. 2009
- Crow, Susan E., Filley, Timothy R., McCormick, Melissa K., Szlavecz, Katalin, Stott, Diane E., Gamblin, David, and Conyers, Grace. 2009. "Earthworms, stand age, and species composition interact to influence particulate organic matter chemistry during forest succession." Biogeochemistry, 92, (1-2) 61–82. (Biogeochemistry) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-008-9260-1. 2009
- Filley, T. R., McCormick, Melissa K., Crow, S. E., Szlavecz, K., Whigham, Dennis F., Johnston, C. T., and van den Heuvel, R. N. 2008. "Comparison of the chemical alteration trajectory of Liriodendron tulipifera L. leaf litter among forests with different earthworm abundance." Journal of Geophysical Research. G. Biogeosciences, 113 G01027. 2008
- Øien, D. I., O'Neill, John P., Whigham, Dennis F., and McCormick, Melissa K. 2008. "Germination ecology of the boreal-alpine terrestrial orchid Dactylorhiza lapponica (Orchidaceae)." Annales Botanici Fennici, 45, (3) 161–172. https://doi.org/10.5735/085.045.0301. 2008
- Taylor, D. L. and McCormick, Melissa K. 2008. "Internal transcribed spacer primers and sequences for improved characterization of basidiomycetous orchid mycorrhizas." New Phytologist, 177 1020–1033. 2008
- Shefferson, R. P., Taylor, D. L., Weiss, M., Garnica, S., McCormick, Melissa K., Adams, S., Gray, H. M., McFarland, J. W., Kull, T., Tali, K., Yukawa, T., Kawahara, T., Miyoshi, K., and Lee, Y. I. 2007. "Evolutionary history of mycorrhizal specificity among lady's slipper orchids." Evolution, 61 1380–1390. 2007
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Book
- Breitburg, Denise L., Hines, Anson H., Jordan, Thomas E., McCormick, Melissa K., Weller, Donald E., and Whigham, Dennis F. 2008. Landscape patterns, nutrient discharges, and biota of the Rhode River estuary and its watershed: Contribution of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center to the Pilot Integrated Ecosystem Assessment. Edgewater, Maryland: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. 2008
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Chapter
- Whigham, Dennis F., McCormick, Melissa K., and O'Neill, John P. 2008. "Specialized seedling strategies II: orchids, bromeliads, carnivorous plants and parasites." In Seedling ecology and evolution. Leck, M. A., Parker, Thomas V., and Simpson, Robert L., editors. 79–100. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press. 2008
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Dataset
- McCormick, Melissa K., Taylor, Donald Lee, Whigham, Dennis F., and Burnett, Robert K. 2016. [Dataset] Germination patterns in three terrestrial orchids relate to abundance of mycorrhizal fungi. Distributed by Dryad Digital Repository. 2016
- McCormick, Melissa K., Taylor, D. Lee, Juhaszova, Katarina, Burnett, Robert K., Jr., Whigham, Dennis F., and O'Neill, John P. 2011. [Dataset] Data from: Limitations on orchid recruitment: not a simple picture. Distributed by Dryad Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/DRYAD.C770013C. 2011
Contact
Location
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Academic Department
