Dimensions of Biodiversity | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) "Dimensions of Biodiversity" grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 13-536) supports ambitious research aimed at rapidly improving how science discovers, describes, and explains the diversity of life on Earth. The central motivation is that, even after centuries of biological exploration, a large share of the planet's biodiversity is still undocumented or poorly understood, and that gap is becoming more urgent as species and ecosystems are being lost at a pace that is often irreversible. NSF frames this as more than a cataloging problem: biodiversity underpins ecosystem services people rely on, shapes our understanding of the history and future of life, and represents a source of potential innovations in areas like agriculture, materials, energy, medicine, and bio-inspired technologies.

The program's stated long-term goal is transformational: to change, by 2020, how biodiversity is described and understood. To do that, it emphasizes novel, integrated research strategies that can reveal not just what species exist, but why biodiversity looks the way it does, how it functions, and how it responds to environmental change both today and across the geologic past. The opportunity targets major gaps in knowledge and encourages investigators to use creative, modern approaches that can scale biodiversity science beyond traditional methods.

A defining feature of this program is its requirement to integrate three major dimensions of biodiversity in a single project. First is the genetic dimension, which can include population genetics, genomics, metagenomics, and other DNA-based approaches that reveal hidden diversity and evolutionary relationships. Second is the taxonomic and phylogenetic dimension, focused on identifying organisms and placing them on the tree of life to understand patterns of relatedness and diversification. Third is the functional dimension, which asks what organisms do in ecosystems, including traits, ecological roles, interactions, and contributions to ecosystem processes. Proposals are expected to address all three dimensions together and explicitly examine the interactions and feedbacks among them, rather than treating them as separate lines of work. NSF highlights that while this area overlaps with many existing NSF programs, it differs in its insistence on simultaneous, synergistic integration of multiple biodiversity dimensions to illuminate key ecological and evolutionary processes.

For FY2013, the solicitation includes a continued partnership with NASA, specifically to support the use of satellite remote sensing in projects that still meet the program's core integration requirement (genetic plus taxonomic/phylogenetic plus functional). This signals interest in linking on-the-ground biodiversity measurements and biological sampling with broader-scale environmental observations from space, potentially enabling researchers to study biodiversity patterns over larger areas, connect biodiversity to habitat and climate variables, and develop scalable monitoring or prediction frameworks.

The opportunity also continues international partnership pathways with NSF China and with the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in Brazil, but with an important limitation: in FY2013 these partnerships support collaborative research proposals only, and the IRCN option with NSF China is no longer available. In practical terms, the program is still open to international collaboration, but applicants need to align with the specific collaborative mechanism described in the solicitation rather than relying on the previous IRCN track.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this is a discretionary, competitive research grant program in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category. NSF anticipated about 10 awards, with an estimated total program funding level of $24,000,000. Individual awards were expected to range from $750,000 to $2,000,000, and cost sharing was not required. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any clarifications in the official solicitation. The proposal deadline for this cycle was May 6, 2013, and the announcement was originally posted on February 4, 2013 (NSF Publication 13-536).

NSF also provides a practical pre-submission option for fit-checking ideas: investigators are encouraged to email a brief project summary and contact information to Dimensions@nsf.gov to ask whether a concept seems suitable for the program. For technical issues accessing the announcement through Grants.gov, the listed support contact is grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.

Browse more opportunities from the same agency: National Science Foundation

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

Next opportunity: APS for Microbicide Research, Development, and Introduction, Round 2

Previous opportunity: Friends Group Initiative

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 13 536

 

[Watch] how do funding administrators access proposals?

Applicants also applied for:

Applicants who have applied for this opportunity (13 536) 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 "13 536", 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.