Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, South Atlantic Coast CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, South Atlantic Coast CESU grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 10HQPA0015) is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary funding announcement that supports a focused research project on nickel toxicity using standardized laboratory methods. The project is structured as a cooperative agreement under the CESU program, meaning it is intended to be carried out in collaboration with the federal agency and within the CESU partnership framework. The central scientific purpose is to improve understanding of the chronic toxicity of nickel to benthic (bottom-dwelling) freshwater invertebrates, with an emphasis on how nickel affects organisms living in or interacting with sediment.

The specific research described centers on testing the toxicity of nickel to nematodes, particularly the model species Caenorhabditis elegans, in either water or sediment. The work is expected to follow ISO 2008 methods, indicating the agency wants results generated using established, repeatable international standard procedures for toxicity testing. A major applied outcome of this type of study is more reliable toxicity benchmarks and sediment risk evaluation approaches, especially because sediment chemistry can strongly influence how metals like nickel bind, persist, and become biologically available to organisms over time.

The study is organized around three main objectives. Objective 1 focuses on method development: creating and refining procedures for spiking freshwater sediments with nickel (that is, adding controlled amounts of nickel to sediment in a way that produces consistent and measurable exposure conditions) and for conducting whole-sediment toxicity tests using those spiked sediments. Objective 2 moves into biological testing and comparison of sensitivity: it calls for evaluating how a variety of benthic test organisms respond to nickel in spiked sediments (using the methods developed in Objective 1) and also how organisms respond to nickel exposure in water. Objective 3 addresses environmental variability and real-world relevance by examining how nickel toxicity changes across sediments that have a wide range of metal-binding characteristics. This includes comparing sediments that differ in properties that affect metal binding and bioavailability, and then using the most sensitive species identified in Objective 2 to assess how those sediment differences influence toxic effects.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity anticipated a single award (Expected Awards: 1) with an estimated total funding amount of $19,740. No cost sharing or matching requirement is listed. The award ceiling and floor are both shown as $0, which typically indicates the announcement did not specify formal minimum or maximum amounts beyond the stated estimate, or that those values were not entered in a conventional way in the listing. The funding activity category is listed as Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and the CFDA number associated with the program is 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection).

Eligibility is restricted to partners within the South Atlantic Coast CESU Program. CESUs are collaborative networks that connect federal agencies with universities and other partners to provide research, technical assistance, and education, so applicants must already be participating members of that CESU partnership to be eligible for this particular award. Key dates in the posting indicate it was originally posted October 15, 2009, created October 26, 2009, with an original closing date of October 26, 2009 and a current closing date of November 16, 2009, later archived on November 25, 2009.

For applicants or interested parties who needed help accessing the full announcement, the listed point of contact was Faith Graves, Contract Specialist, reachable by phone at 703-648-7356.

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