Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP15AC00368
Apply for NPS NOIP15AC00368
- The DOI-NPS in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS- Using Diatoms as a biomonitoring tool to identify and interpret changes in water quality of Great Lakes Network parks-THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.944.
- This funding opportunity was created on Feb 19, 2016 and posted on Feb 19, 2016.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 29, 2016. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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Opportunity Summary:
This funding opportunity (NPS NOIP15AC00368) is a cooperative agreement issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS), focused on using diatoms (microscopic algae preserved in lake sediments) as a biomonitoring tool to detect and interpret water-quality change in lakes within Great Lakes Network (GLKN) parks. Although it appears in the grants listing format, it is explicitly labeled "THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS," meaning it is not an open competition for new applicants. The notice documents a planned, partner-driven project with defined roles, methods, and deliverables rather than soliciting proposals.
At a practical level, the project is built around the idea that diatom communities preserved in the top layers of lake sediments act like a natural archive of recent lake conditions, while longer sediment records can extend the story back centuries. Because diatom-based interpretation depends heavily on having reliable, on-the-ground water chemistry measurements, the work pairs sediment diatom identification with laboratory analysis of water samples for key indicators of nutrient status and algal production. The core objective is to identify diatoms collected from lake surface sediments and analyze water samples for nutrients and chlorophyll to support strong, defensible interpretations of water-quality trends and environmental change across GLKN park lakes.
Project management is structured as a joint effort. The principal investigator and the NPS GLKN Aquatic Ecologist jointly serve as co-investigators and project managers, coordinating the work from sampling through analysis and reporting. They also collaborate with the Midwest Regional Aquatic Ecologist on data analysis and interpretation, and they anticipate shared authorship on final technical products and any peer-reviewed publications that come out of the project. This joint structure signals that the effort is intended to be collaborative and integrative, tying laboratory results and statistical modeling directly to park management needs and long-term monitoring goals.
The recipient side of the agreement centers on scientific laboratory and analytical capacity housed at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SCWRS field station), with Dr. Mark Edlund designated as principal investigator for administering the work. A major recipient responsibility is water chemistry analysis of NPS-provided samples, with an expected workload of roughly 200 samples per year for each parameter. The parameters include total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate/nitrite nitrogen (NO3/NO2-N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), and chlorophyll a. The award emphasizes not just producing numbers, but providing full supporting quality information, including method detection limits, reporting limits, QA/QC documentation, and data flags with explanations. The notice specifies target method detection limits and methods such as alkaline persulfate digestion for TP and TN, Standard Methods-based approaches for ammonia-related analytes, and an in-vitro chlorophyll a determination method.
On the biological side, the recipient analyzes diatoms from lake surface sediments collected from about 10 lakes per year. Samples are prepared and counted following established procedures cited from Ramstack et al. (2008), and the outcome for each lake is a tailored inventory describing diatom species richness and relative abundance. These assemblage data are then used with existing calibration models (transfer functions) to reconstruct environmental variables of interest from the diatom community composition. The recipient also runs diatom QA/QC samples according to the same published protocols, reinforcing that the project is designed to produce data suitable for long-term tracking and defensible comparisons across years and sites.
A key technical component is the numerical and statistical analysis used to translate diatom counts into meaningful environmental interpretations. The project applies weighted averaging regression and calibration through diatom-based transfer functions to infer specific environmental conditions (for example, nutrient-related variables such as TP). In addition, multivariate ordination methods are used to examine broader community-level changes. The notice specifically calls for detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA), where diatom assemblages from surface sediments are positioned relative to established calibration sets to build "lake trajectories" that describe how conditions have shifted over time. For lakes with longer sediment cores already analyzed, these trajectories can extend back more than 200 years, allowing comparisons between modern conditions, pre-settlement baselines, and intermediate periods of change. The approach also allows comparisons among lakes by evaluating both magnitude of change (how much inferred conditions such as TP or alkalinity have shifted) and direction of change (whether communities are trending toward recovery or moving along gradients such as trophic status, pH, alkalinity, or water color). Direction is interpreted in two complementary ways: by comparing a lake's recent assemblages to its historical/pre-settlement community context, and by plotting communities against environmental-diatom training sets to identify the dominant gradients driving change.
Reporting requirements emphasize synthesis and management relevance rather than only raw data delivery. The recipient produces a technical report every other year that summarizes diatom findings in the context of the historical natural range of variation and documents the trajectory of recent change. These reports are expected to connect shifts in diatom communities to likely causes as suggested by the accompanying water chemistry results, making the outputs more actionable for resource managers who need to understand not just that a change occurred, but what it might mean and what could be driving it.
The National Park Service, through GLKN, is responsible for field sampling, data stewardship, permitting, and complementary reporting. The NPS designates GLKN Aquatic Ecologist David VanderMeulen as the NPS principal investigator and takes the lead on collecting surface sediments from roughly 10 lakes per year. Sediment is collected at established, GPS-located central depositional basin sites using a line-operated gravity corer. The protocol targets the upper 0 to 2 cm of sediment, split into 0 to 1 cm and 1 to 2 cm layers, to represent an integrated signal of lake conditions over approximately the last 1 to 5 years. NPS also collects water samples following network protocols (cited as Elias et al. for lakes and Magdalene et al. for rivers), provides all required field supplies and chain-of-custody materials, preserves samples per agreed methods, and ships them to SCWRS for laboratory analysis.
Beyond collection, GLKN commits to sharing all relevant field and external lab water-quality data with SCWRS promptly after the field season so diatom interpretations can be anchored to measured environmental conditions. GLKN also manages data and metadata entry into appropriate databases and ensures availability to partners and the public, reflecting the project’s role within a broader monitoring and information-sharing framework. Permitting is handled by GLKN to ensure field work complies with park requirements. Finally, GLKN prepares annual park briefs per internal guidance, submits Investigators Annual Reports through NPS systems, reviews the recipient’s annual reports, and collaborates on larger synthesis reports, reinforcing that the deliverables are intended to be integrated into ongoing NPS reporting and decision-support processes.
In terms of administrative details, the opportunity is listed under CFDA 15.944, categorized under environment/natural resources and research and development, with a discretionary cooperative agreement instrument. The posted award ceiling is $300,000 with an expectation of one award, and the posting dates (February 2016) and closing date reflect the administrative record for this non-competitive, not-open-for-application notice rather than a standard solicitation. Overall, the project is best understood as a structured partnership to generate high-quality, comparable diatom and water-chemistry datasets that can track recent and long-term changes in Great Lakes park waters, identify whether conditions are deteriorating or recovering, and place modern measurements into a deeper historical context.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is NPS NOIP15AC00368 open for applications?
No. The notice is explicitly labeled "THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS," meaning it is not an open competition and is not soliciting proposals from new applicants.
What type of funding instrument is this?
It is a discretionary cooperative agreement issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS).
What is the main purpose of this cooperative agreement?
The project uses diatoms (microscopic algae preserved in lake sediments) as a biomonitoring tool to detect and interpret water-quality change in lakes within Great Lakes Network (GLKN) parks, pairing sediment diatom analysis with measured water chemistry to support defensible interpretations of trends and environmental change.
Why are diatoms used for monitoring lake water-quality change?
Diatom communities preserved in lake sediments act as a natural archive of lake conditions. Surface sediments reflect recent conditions, while longer sediment records can extend interpretations back centuries, supporting comparisons between modern conditions and historical baselines.
What is the relationship between diatom data and water chemistry in this project?
Diatom-based interpretation depends on reliable, on-the-ground measurements. The project pairs diatom identification from sediments with laboratory analysis of water samples (nutrients and chlorophyll) to anchor interpretations of trophic status, algal production, and broader environmental change.
Which parks or geographic area does the work focus on?
The work focuses on lakes within Great Lakes Network (GLKN) parks managed/monitored by NPS.
Who are the key project leads and how is the project managed?
Project management is a joint effort: the principal investigator and the NPS GLKN Aquatic Ecologist serve as co-investigators and project managers. They collaborate with the Midwest Regional Aquatic Ecologist on analysis and interpretation, with anticipated shared authorship on final technical products and any peer-reviewed publications.
Who is the recipient organization responsible for laboratory and analytical work?
The recipient responsibilities center on scientific laboratory and analytical capacity at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SCWRS field station), with Dr. Mark Edlund designated as principal investigator for administering the work.
What water chemistry parameters are analyzed under the agreement?
The recipient analyzes NPS-provided water samples for total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate/nitrite nitrogen (NO3/NO2-N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), and chlorophyll a.
How many water samples are expected to be analyzed each year?
The expected workload is roughly 200 samples per year for each parameter (TP, TN, NO3/NO2-N, NH4-N, and chlorophyll a).
What quality and documentation are required for water chemistry results?
The award emphasizes delivering not only results, but full supporting quality information, including method detection limits, reporting limits, QA/QC documentation, and data flags with explanations.
What methods are referenced for water chemistry analyses?
The notice references specific analytical approaches, including alkaline persulfate digestion for TP and TN, Standard Methods-based approaches for ammonia-related analytes, and an in-vitro chlorophyll a determination method, along with target method detection limits.
How many lakes are sampled for diatoms each year?
Diatoms are analyzed from lake surface sediments collected from about 10 lakes per year.
How are sediment samples collected and what time period do they represent?
NPS collects sediment at established, GPS-located central depositional basin sites using a line-operated gravity corer. The protocol targets the upper 0 to 2 cm of sediment, split into 0 to 1 cm and 1 to 2 cm layers, representing an integrated signal of lake conditions over approximately the last 1 to 5 years.
What does the diatom analysis produce for each lake?
For each lake, the recipient prepares and counts diatoms following established procedures (cited from Ramstack et al. (2008)) and produces a tailored inventory describing diatom species richness and relative abundance.
How is diatom QA/QC handled?
The recipient runs diatom QA/QC samples following the same published protocols referenced for sample preparation and counting, supporting consistent and defensible long-term comparisons.
How are diatom assemblage data translated into environmental interpretations?
The project applies weighted averaging regression and calibration through diatom-based transfer functions (existing calibration models) to reconstruct environmental variables of interest from diatom community composition.
What statistical or numerical methods are specifically mentioned for interpreting change?
The notice specifically mentions detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA) and multivariate ordination approaches, along with weighted averaging-based transfer functions, to evaluate community-level changes and infer conditions such as nutrient-related variables (for example, TP).
What are "lake trajectories" in this project?
"Lake trajectories" refer to positioning surface-sediment diatom assemblages relative to established calibration sets (using DCCA) to describe how lake conditions have shifted over time, including the magnitude and direction of change.
Can the analyses look back further than recent years?
Yes. For lakes with longer sediment cores already analyzed, trajectories can extend back more than 200 years, allowing comparisons among modern conditions, pre-settlement baselines, and intermediate periods of change.
How is the direction of change interpreted?
Direction is interpreted in two complementary ways: (1) comparing a lake's recent assemblages to its historical or pre-settlement community context, and (2) plotting communities against environmental-diatom training sets to identify dominant gradients driving change (such as trophic status, pH, alkalinity, or water color).
What are the main reporting deliverables from the recipient?
The recipient produces a technical report every other year summarizing diatom findings in the context of the historical natural range of variation and documenting the trajectory of recent change, linking diatom shifts to likely causes suggested by water chemistry results.
What deliverables or responsibilities are assigned to NPS/GLKN?
NPS/GLKN is responsible for field sampling (sediments and water), data stewardship, permitting, providing field supplies and chain-of-custody materials, preserving and shipping samples to SCWRS, sharing relevant field and external lab data promptly after the field season, managing data/metadata entry into appropriate databases, ensuring availability to partners and the public, preparing annual park briefs, submitting Investigators Annual Reports through NPS systems, reviewing the recipient's annual reports, and collaborating on synthesis reporting.
How are water samples collected and handled before lab analysis?
NPS collects water samples following network protocols (cited as Elias et al. for lakes and Magdalene et al. for rivers), provides field supplies and chain-of-custody materials, preserves samples per agreed methods, and ships them to SCWRS for laboratory analysis.
What is the stated award ceiling and how many awards are expected?
The posted award ceiling is $300,000, with an expectation of one award.
What CFDA number is associated with this listing?
The listing is under CFDA 15.944.
How is this opportunity categorized in the listing?
It is categorized under environment/natural resources and research and development.
Do the posting and closing dates indicate a normal competitive grant cycle?
No. The posting dates (February 2016) and closing date are presented as part of the administrative record for a non-competitive, not-open-for-application notice rather than a standard solicitation.
What is the practical management value of the project outputs?
The outputs are designed to be management-relevant by synthesizing diatom and water-chemistry evidence to show whether conditions are deteriorating or recovering, identify likely drivers, and place modern measurements into a deeper historical context for GLKN park lakes.
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