Browsing by Author "Palmer, Margaret A."
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Item Computer Based Concept Mapping: Flipping the Research Process(National Soci-Environmental Synthesis Center, University of Maryland, 2022) Palmer, Margaret A.The approach described is meant to facilitate the team-building process to accelerate interdisciplinary collaboration. It for use in workshops that bring together disciplinarily diverse groups who have not previously collaborated. A theme that is of interest to a broad array of scholars is identified. Selected themes should be those that can be conceptualized through many different frameworks e.g., food and water. A group of interested researchers are brought together and after introducing the theme and process, each individual participant uses a cyber platform to search for the types of data and data sets they believe important to the topic. This is followed by a facilitated group discussion focused on how each person approached data discovery—what topics and data they explored, in what order, and why? This exercise reveals differences in the assumptions, values, and perspectives that participants bring to a broad problem. Then the teams work iteratively in small groups to develop a research question(s) and identify associated types of data they can agree are critical. The search and discussion process facilitates the sharing and integration of knowledge. Because each person uses the same platform but queries it in diverse ways, then share how they went about the queries and why, the process promotes conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge—allowing diverse participants to communicate through cross-boundary discussion. Since building such platforms is time-consuming and expensive to build, widely available literature search platforms could be used.Item Setting a reference for wetland carbon: the importance of accounting for hydrology, topography, and natural variability(Institute of Physics, 2023-05-19) Stewart, Graham A.; Kottkamp, Anna I.; Williams, Michael R.; Palmer, Margaret A.Wetland soils are a key global sink for organic carbon (C) and a focal point for C management and accounting efforts. The ongoing push for wetland restoration presents an opportunity for climate mitigation, but C storage expectations are poorly defined due to a lack of reference information and an incomplete understanding of what drives natural variability among wetlands. We sought to address these shortcomings by (1) quantifying the range of variability in wetland soil organic C (SOC) stocks on a depressional landscape (Delmarva Peninsula, USA) and (2) investigating the role of hydrology and relative topography in explaining variability among wetlands. We found a high degree of variability within individual wetlands and among wetlands with similar vegetation and hydrogeomorphic characteristics. This suggests that uncertainty should be presented explicitly when inferring ecosystem processes from wetland types or land cover classes. Differences in hydrologic regimes, particularly the rate of water level recession, explained some of the variability among wetlands, but relationships between SOC stocks and some hydrologic metrics were eclipsed by factors associated with separate study sites. Relative topography accounted for a similar portion of SOC stock variability as hydrology, indicating that it could be an effective substitute in large-scale analyses. As wetlands worldwide are restored and focus increases on quantifying C benefits, the importance of appropriately defining and assessing reference systems is paramount. Our results highlight the current uncertainty in this process, but suggest that incorporating landscape heterogeneity and drivers of natural variability into reference information may improve how wetland restoration is implemented and evaluated.