Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | G20AS00141

Opportunity Information: Apply for G20AS00141

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G20AS00141) is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary funding announcement offered under a cooperative agreement to support research and development work in science and technology (CFDA 15.808). The main purpose is to help federal resource managers make more defensible, repeatable decisions about how vulnerable different species are to environmental change, especially species that have limited scientific literature and incomplete ecological data. This focus is important because many conservation and regulatory decisions depend on species status assessments, yet the underlying evidence for lesser-studied species is often thin or scattered.

A central problem the opportunity is trying to address is that agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are required to evaluate three interconnected elements of climate and environmental vulnerability: a species sensitivity to changing conditions, its exposure to those changes, and its adaptive capacity (how well it can cope, persist, or adjust). In practice, strong vulnerability assessments usually rely on detailed species-specific trait data, natural history knowledge, and ecological studies. For many taxa, especially rare, cryptic, or understudied species, those inputs are missing, hard to locate, or too time-consuming to compile at the scale agencies need. As a result, traditional vulnerability frameworks, which were often built and validated using well-studied species, may not translate well to species where key traits and ecological relationships are unknown or uncertain.

To make progress on this bottleneck, the USGS is encouraging CESU partners to develop research approaches that use modern machine learning and statistical clustering to infer vulnerability-relevant characteristics and to group species in ways that allow practical assessment even with incomplete information. The idea is to build a predictive model and pair it with an associated classification tree so the logic of the assessment is accessible and transparent rather than being a black box. A classification tree can show, step by step, how a species is categorized based on available traits or proxies, which improves interpretability for managers and supports consistent application across programs, regions, and assessment teams. The broader intent is to produce a method that is simpler to apply, defensible in technical reviews, and repeatable over time as new data become available.

This opportunity was limited to eligible applicants described as "Others" with clarification referenced in the original announcement, and it was specifically directed to a CESU partner within the Rocky Mountain CESU network. The award structure indicates a single expected award with an award ceiling of $40,466. The opportunity was created on August 18, 2020, with an original closing date of September 11, 2020. Overall, the project concept is aimed at reducing the research burden on agency staff by providing tools that can scale vulnerability assessment to a wider set of priority species, including those that have historically been difficult to evaluate due to sparse trait and ecology data.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 18, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 11, 2020. (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 $40,466.00 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).

Apply for G20AS00141

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