Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Pacific Northwest CESU | G19AS00015

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00015

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Pacific Northwest CESU grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G19AS00015) was offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of the Interior, specifically through the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis. The award is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the USGS is expected to be substantially involved in the work rather than acting only as a pass-through funder. The opportunity sits in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category (CFDA 15.808) and was posted on November 6, 2018, with an original closing date of November 21, 2018. It anticipated making a single award, with a maximum funding level (award ceiling) of $47,000.

The central goal of the project is to produce a multi-scale synthesis of biological nitrogen fixation rates across the terrestrial biosphere. In practical terms, this means compiling, harmonizing, and analyzing existing information on how much nitrogen is naturally added to land ecosystems by organisms that fix atmospheric nitrogen. The work is expected to cover the major nitrogen-fixing "niches" or organism groups responsible for terrestrial nitrogen fixation, including trees, shrubs, herbs, lichens, cyanobacteria, mosses, liverworts, and free-living heterotrophic bacteria. The synthesis is intended to be global in scope across all terrestrial biomes and is also expected to include agricultural systems, which can be important nitrogen fixation environments due to symbiotic relationships in crops and managed landscapes.

Beyond a broad literature-style synthesis, the opportunity emphasizes scaling and mapping. The project is expected to take estimates of symbiotic nitrogen fixation inputs associated with plants and lichens and scale them up in a way that supports spatially resolved mapping products. A specific deliverable implied by the description is the development of nitrogen fixation maps for the United States and North America, meaning gridded or otherwise spatially explicit representations that show how fixation rates vary across geography and ecosystems. These map products would be useful for resource managers, researchers, and modelers who need spatial inputs rather than single average values.

Another major component is the development of prognostic tools to evaluate environmental controls on niche-specific nitrogen fixation rates. "Prognostic" here points to predictive capability: tools or models that can estimate fixation rates based on drivers such as climate, vegetation type, soil conditions, biome characteristics, or other environmental variables. The intention is for these tools to work across biomes and globally, supporting broader mapping efforts as well as management and ecosystem modeling. Overall, the opportunity is aimed at improving the scientific basis for representing terrestrial nitrogen fixation in analyses that inform environmental management decisions and large-scale ecosystem or Earth system models, with the CESU partnership mechanism limiting eligibility to qualifying CESU partner applicants as described in the opportunity's eligibility notes.

• 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, Pacific Northwest 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 Nov 06, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 21, 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 $47,000.00 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 G19AS00015

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