Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, South Florida/Caribbean | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G15AS00011) is a USGS Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) award under the South Florida/Caribbean CESU network. It is offered by the U.S. Geological Survey, specifically the USGS Southeast Ecological Science Center in Gainesville, Florida, and it uses a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument. The project sits in the Science and Technology/Research and Development category and is intended to support applied field research tied to an active coastal infrastructure project: the Port of Miami harbor expansion.

The central purpose of the work is to monitor and analyze changes in faunal communities in Biscayne Bay, focusing on the Rickenbacker Basin, in relation to harbor dredging activities associated with deepening and widening shipping channels. The port improvements were driven by expectations of increased trade following the Panama Canal expansion, and the dredging work began in November 2013 with an anticipated duration of about eighteen months. Because dredging can affect water quality and disturb bottom habitats through sediment resuspension, turbidity, and direct physical alteration, the USGS is seeking research support to determine whether and how ecological communities shift during and after these activities, including changes that might occur outside the immediate dredge footprint.

The opportunity emphasizes that the potential impact area is ecologically significant and extensive. The port modifications could affect more than 400 acres of benthic habitat within Biscayne Bay and nearby coastal areas. Habitat types of concern include seagrass beds, hard bottom reef communities, rock rubble areas, and unvegetated sediments. Dredging in this case occurs within the Rickenbacker Basin of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, which elevates the importance of careful monitoring because the preserve contains sensitive benthic and associated faunal communities. The notice cites estimates (USACE, 2011) that approximately 0.2 acres of seagrass within the existing channel and 7.7 acres of seagrass outside the existing channel could be impacted, underscoring that effects may extend beyond the dredged corridor itself.

A key feature of the study design described in the announcement is the use of reference sites to strengthen inference. In addition to monitoring sites in or near the Rickenbacker Basin, the project will also monitor thirty reference sites in North Biscayne Bay, specifically the Julia Tuttle Basin. These reference locations are meant to help distinguish dredging-related changes from broader background variation (seasonal shifts, regional environmental trends, or other human pressures), thereby supporting more defensible statistical comparisons between impacted and non-impacted areas.

The project also benefits from an existing long-term baseline dataset. USGS points to data collected from 2005 to 2011 through the South Florida Seagrass Fish and Invertebrate Assessment Network (FIAN). That multi-year dataset provides pre-impact conditions for the region, allowing the funded research to compare observed conditions during and after dredging against an established baseline rather than relying only on short-term snapshots. In practical terms, this increases the likelihood of detecting meaningful ecological change and reduces uncertainty when attributing observed shifts to dredging activities.

On the administrative side, the opportunity anticipated a single award with an estimated total funding amount of $49,200. There was no cost-sharing or matching requirement. The award ceiling and floor were listed as $0, which typically indicates the agency is not using those fields to constrain the amount beyond the stated estimated total. The posting date and creation date were November 5, 2014, with an original and current closing date of November 17, 2014, and an archive date of February 5, 2015.

Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are official partners within the South Florida/Caribbean CESU Program. CESUs are structured partnerships intended to connect federal agencies with universities and other research entities to provide research, technical assistance, and education aligned with natural resource and ecosystem management needs. That means a typical open applicant pool does not apply here; only recognized CESU partner institutions can receive this cooperative agreement.

For applicants needing help accessing the full announcement, the notice provides a USGS contact: Faith Graves (703-648-7356, fgraves@usgs.gov). The general posting references Grants.gov as the access point for the opportunity details.

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