Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU | G18AS00103

Opportunity Information: Apply for G18AS00103

This funding opportunity, titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU" (Funding Opportunity Number G18AS00103), was issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of the Interior. It is a discretionary science and technology/research and development award made through a cooperative agreement, meaning the recipient should expect substantial involvement and collaboration with USGS during the project rather than operating entirely independently. The opportunity was created on July 31, 2018, with an original closing date of August 14, 2018, and it anticipated making a single award.

The central purpose of the project is to improve scientific understanding of how vulnerable tidal saline wetlands are to accelerating sea-level rise (SLR) on a global scale. Tidal saline wetlands, such as salt marshes and other coastal wetlands influenced by tides and saline water, are especially important because they provide ecosystem services like storm buffering, shoreline stabilization, carbon storage, habitat for fish and wildlife, and water quality benefits. Despite their importance, predicting whether these wetlands will persist, adapt, or degrade as sea levels rise faster remains difficult, in part because resilience varies by location and depends on multiple interacting physical and biological processes.

USGS frames wetland vulnerability around a pair of core, diagnostic measurements: wetland surface elevation change and vertical accretion. Surface elevation change reflects whether the marsh surface is gaining or losing elevation relative to a reference level over time, which directly affects whether the wetland can keep pace with rising water levels. Accretion refers to the build-up of sediments and organic matter on the wetland surface. Together, these two measurements help distinguish whether a wetland is building upward (or at least holding its ground) versus subsiding, compacting, or otherwise losing relative elevation, which can increase the likelihood of drowning, vegetation loss, and conversion to open water.

To support this work, USGS points to the Surface Elevation Table and Marker Horizon (SET-MH) methodology, which USGS scientists helped advance and which has been deployed globally. The SET component provides highly precise, repeatable measurements of changes in wetland surface elevation through time, while the Marker Horizon approach measures accretion by tracking the accumulation of material above a known reference layer. Because these methods generate empirical, field-based time series data, they are widely used to assess coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise and related stressors in a rigorous and comparable way.

A key strength of this opportunity is that USGS already has a large body of relevant data. The agency has collected SET-MH measurements of surface elevation change and accretion, along with environmental covariates, from tidal saline wetland sites around the world. The funded CESU partner would use these existing datasets to conduct a robust statistical and modeling investigation aimed at clarifying the relationship between wetland resiliency and observed or changing sea level conditions. In practice, that implies integrating measurements from many locations, accounting for site-level environmental factors, and developing or applying quantitative models that can explain variation among sites and improve predictions of wetland trajectories under different sea-level rise scenarios.

Eligibility is limited to partners in the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, specifically under the Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU, with the listing indicating "Others" and directing applicants to the additional eligibility language for clarification. The award ceiling for the single expected award was $50,000, and the program is associated with CFDA number 15.808. Overall, the opportunity is geared toward leveraging a globally distributed, USGS-supported monitoring approach and dataset to strengthen the evidence base and predictive understanding of how tidal saline wetlands respond to accelerating sea-level rise.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 31, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 14, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $50,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G18AS00103

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