Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Californian CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 10HQPA0098) was issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, specifically the Californian CESU. It is a discretionary, science and technology oriented research award being offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning the USGS expects to be actively involved in the work rather than simply providing a hands-off grant. The announcement was posted on August 25, 2010, with an application closing date of September 1, 2010, and it was later archived on October 1, 2010. The opportunity anticipated making one award, with an estimated total funding amount of $40,532. No cost sharing or matching requirement was listed.

The project focus is climate change impacts on alpine mammals and their habitats across the Sierra Nevada, with the work centered through the USGS Western Ecological Research Center (WERC) Yosemite/Bishop Field Station. A key collaborator named in the opportunity is the University of California, Davis. The broader purpose is to close important knowledge gaps about how changing climate conditions are influencing where alpine mammals can live now, how their ranges may shift in the future, and how those mammal-driven ecological interactions might speed up or slow down changes in alpine vegetation and meadow ecosystems.

The work is organized around three main scientific goals. First, the project aims to build models of current, contemporary ranges for five alpine mammal species by combining ground-based field surveys with remote sensing data. In practical terms, this implies collecting direct observations on the ground (such as presence, abundance, signs, or habitat use) and pairing them with landscape-scale environmental information derived from remotely sensed products (for example, vegetation patterns, snow cover proxies, or other spatial habitat indicators) to produce more reliable range and habitat models.

Second, the opportunity calls for a mix of field experiments and additional ground surveys to test how plant-animal interactions could influence a major ecological transition of concern in the Sierra Nevada: the conversion of alpine meadows into woody-dominated plant communities. The intent is not only to document vegetation change, but to understand whether and how mammals affect that change through mechanisms like herbivory (feeding on plants) and granivory (seed consumption). This part of the project highlights that meadow dynamics are not driven by climate alone; they can also be shaped by animal activity that alters plant survival, regeneration, and competitive balance.

Third, the project uses the data generated from those surveys and experiments to develop and compare projections of future range shifts, explicitly testing scenarios both with and without mammal effects on meadow conversion. A central, "critical" feature of the approach is comparative modeling: building multiple models of projected vegetation transitions that either exclude animal-related variables or include variables representing mammal range shifts and feedback effects from herbivory and granivory. By setting up this side-by-side structure, the research is designed to quantify how much predictive power and ecological realism is gained when animal feedbacks are incorporated, and whether ignoring those feedbacks could lead to misleading projections about meadow persistence, woody encroachment, and associated habitat changes.

Eligibility is limited to organizations that are participating partners of the California CESU Program. The announcement lists the eligible applicant category broadly as "Others" with clarification provided through CESU partnership requirements, which is typical for CESU opportunities where only member institutions can receive awards. For access issues or administrative questions, the listed contact is Faith Graves, Contract Specialist, at 703-648-7356.

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