Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forest CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 10HQPA0085) is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary cooperative agreement released under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, specifically the Great Lakes Northern Forest CESU. CESUs are formal partnerships designed to streamline and support research, technical assistance, and education that help federal land and resource agencies meet management needs. Because it is issued through this CESU, eligibility is limited to organizations that are official participating partners of the Great Lakes Northern Forest CESU (the announcement lists eligibility as "Others," clarified by the CESU partner requirement). The opportunity anticipated a single award, with an estimated total funding amount of $72,295, and it did not require cost sharing or matching. It was posted June 28, 2010, created July 13, 2010, originally due July 12, 2010, and later extended to a current closing date of July 26, 2010, with an archive date of August 11, 2010. The CFDA number is 15.808 (USGS Research and Data Collection). Award ceiling and floor were both listed as $0, which typically signals that the specific budget is controlled by the agreement and project needs rather than a fixed range published in the notice.

Scientifically, the project is tied to the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP), a long-running, multi-agency effort focused on managing dam operations to balance water delivery with downstream ecosystem resources in the Grand Canyon. A central priority highlighted in the announcement is conserving native Colorado River Basin fishes protected under the Endangered Species Act, with particular emphasis on the endangered humpback chub. The opportunity is framed around a management concern identified through recent status and trend analyses: a decade-scale decline in humpback chub abundance that is believed to be driven largely by reduced recruitment of young fish into the population. Recruitment dynamics described in the notice include small juveniles entering the Colorado River mainstem from the Little Colorado River (LCR) in spring, larger juveniles entering during monsoon-driven flood events in late summer and fall, and the possibility of recruitment from mainstem spawning events.

The announcement explains why recruitment and juvenile survival are so tightly linked to river conditions influenced by Glen Canyon Dam. Juvenile habitat quantity and quality in the mainstem are described as being shaped by flow and temperature regimes and by channel morphology, with habitat characteristics influenced by monthly average discharge, hourly discharge fluctuations from dam operations, sediment supply, and managed flow events intended to build or maintain habitat features thought to benefit native fish (such as backwaters). Beyond physical habitat, juvenile survival is also affected by food availability and by ecological interactions like competition and predation from native and non-native fishes. In that context, the project aims to use otolith-based methods to better reconstruct where juvenile fish have been living and how well they have been growing under different environmental conditions.

The core technical approach centers on otoliths (ear stones), which are widely used in fisheries science because they retain growth increments that can be counted and measured to estimate age and growth rates, and because their chemical composition can reflect the water chemistry experienced by the fish over time. The grant emphasizes using stable isotope chemistry in otoliths, specifically carbon and oxygen isotope ratios (delta 13C and delta 18O), to create signatures that can differentiate habitat residency between the Colorado River mainstem and the Little Colorado River. By combining isotopic signatures with increment-based growth measurements, the work is intended to retrospectively link where fish resided (or moved) with how fast they grew, which is a practical way to evaluate how flow, temperature, and habitat availability may be influencing recruitment success and juvenile survival.

USGS sought a CESU partner to carry out a set of specific research objectives. These objectives include: (1) definitively characterizing delta 13C and delta 18O otolith signatures from resident larval and early juvenile fish in both the Colorado River and the Little Colorado River, establishing a clear baseline or reference for interpreting where fish have been; (2) analyzing stable isotope otolith chemistry for fish collected throughout summer and fall 2010, a period that includes monsoon-driven hydrologic events that can drive movement and recruitment; (3) expanding the associated water chemistry monitoring to collect monthly samples from four locations in the Little Colorado River, which helps interpret otolith chemistry by documenting spatial and temporal variation in the water isotopic environment; (4) linking otolith chemistry results to growth rates estimated by enumerating and measuring growth increments using both light microscopy and electron microscopy techniques, strengthening the connection between habitat use and performance; and (5) investigating whether fish scales might preserve the same carbon and oxygen stable isotope information and signatures as otoliths, which matters because scales can sometimes be collected less invasively than otoliths and could broaden monitoring options if they prove reliable.

Operationally, this is a research and development award in the science and technology category, structured as a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement in project coordination, data expectations, or integration with ongoing agency programs like GCDAMP. The point of contact listed for access issues was Faith Graves, Contract Specialist, at 703-648-7356.

Browse more opportunities from the same agency: Geological Survey

Browse more opportunities from the same category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development

Next opportunity: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Basin CESU

Previous opportunity: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU

USGrants.org Applicant Portal:

Are you interested in learning about about how to apply for this government funding opportunity? You can create a free applicant account and receive instant access to our applicant portal that many business owners like you have benefited from.

Apply for 10HQPA0085

 

[Watch] how do funding administrators access proposals?

Applicants also applied for:

Applicants who have applied for this opportunity (10HQPA0085) also looked into and applied for these:

 

Grant application guides and resources

It is always free to apply for government grants. However the process may be very complex depending on the funding opportunity you are applying for. Let us help you!

Apply for Grants

 

 

Premium leads for funding administrators, grant writers, and loan issuers

Thousands of people visit our website for their funding needs every day. When a user creates a grant proposal and files for submission, we pass the information on to funding administrators, grant writers, and government loan issuers.

If you manage government grant programs, provide grant writing services, or issue personal or government loans, we can help you reach your audience.

Subscribe to Leads

 

Request more information:

Would you like to learn more about this funding opportunity, similar opportunities to "10HQPA0085", eligibility, application service, and/or application tips? Submit an inquiry below:

Don't forget to subscribe to our grant alerts mailing list to receive weekly alerts on new and updated grant funding opportunities like this one in your email.