Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G15AS00027), titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU," is a discretionary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) funding announcement administered through the USGS Alaska Science Center. The award is offered as a cooperative agreement for science and technology and other research and development activities, with an estimated total funding amount of $67,915 and an expectation of a single award. There is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The opportunity was originally posted on January 13, 2015, created on January 26, 2015, and ultimately closed on February 6, 2015 (with an archive date of April 13, 2015). The CFDA listing associated with the program is 15.808, "U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection."

The core purpose of the project is to support research that evaluates how climate-driven habitat changes are affecting bird abundance and distribution across the boreal-arctic transition zone in western Alaska. The project is grounded in the idea that breeding birds select habitats based heavily on vegetation structure and composition, meaning that shifts in plant communities and landscape patterns can quickly translate into changes in where birds occur and how numerous they are. Because the boreal-arctic boundary is expected to experience especially rapid and dynamic ecological change under climate warming, the area is treated as a high-priority setting for understanding and anticipating future wildlife responses.

A major driver highlighted in the announcement is the expected increase in wildland fire as temperatures warm, coupled with shifting tree range limits as temperature and moisture conditions change. The USGS frames this as a compound disturbance-and-transition problem: more frequent fires interacting with altered growing season conditions could produce major, potentially unprecedented changes in forest biogeography across the boreal region over the next century. In practical terms, that means the spatial extent of forest, the species that make up those forests, and the structure of those forests on the ground (such as canopy cover and vertical layering) may change in ways that directly affect nesting, foraging, and predator-prey dynamics for birds.

In addition to forest change, the opportunity places strong emphasis on shrub expansion as an even faster-moving component of landscape transformation in the transition zone. The announcement notes that increases in shrub distribution, density, and vertical structure are expected to outpace changes in forests. Shrub growth and spread are described as accelerating due to multiple interacting climate and disturbance mechanisms, including changes in temperature and precipitation, more frequent and intense tundra fires, permafrost thaw, altered snow conditions, and feedback loops that can further reinforce vegetation change. Since shrub height and density can reshape microclimate, snow capture, and habitat complexity, these changes are expected to have significant implications for bird communities, particularly for species whose breeding ecology depends on open tundra, low vegetation, or specific patch structures.

Eligibility is limited to partners within the Rocky Mountains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESUs are collaborative partnerships designed to provide research, technical assistance, and education that support natural and cultural resource management needs. In this case, only participating Rocky Mountain CESU partners are eligible to apply, even though the research focus is in Alaska, reflecting how CESU networks are used to connect federal science needs with qualified partner institutions.

For access issues related to the full announcement, the listed contact is Faith Graves at the USGS (703-648-7356, fgraves@usgs.gov). The general additional information link points to Grants.gov, where the full posting and application materials were hosted.

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