Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Desert Southwest CESU | G19AS00093

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00093

This funding opportunity, titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Desert Southwest CESU" (Funding Opportunity Number G19AS00093), was offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of the Interior as a discretionary cooperative agreement for science and technology research and development. The program was aimed specifically at a partner organization within the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, with eligibility limited to those partners described in the opportunity's additional eligibility details. The opportunity was posted on July 9, 2019, with an original application deadline of July 26, 2019, and it anticipated making a single award with a maximum (ceiling) amount of $350,000. The associated CFDA number listed for the program is 15.808.

The core purpose of the project was to support research that reconstructs and explains historical marine climate variability, with a strong emphasis on advancing the practical use of newer, high-resolution analytical techniques for interpreting past environmental change. In particular, USGS highlighted state-of-the-art approaches such as molecular hydrogen isotopic analysis and isotopic measurements of oxygen and carbon on individual foraminifera, which are microscopic marine organisms widely used as archives of past ocean conditions. These methods are intended to sharpen the ability of scientists to detect and quantify changes in marine and coastal environments over time, improving how past variability is translated into understanding of system behavior and likely responses to future change.

Scientifically, the expected outcome was the creation of multiple new Holocene climate histories, meaning climate reconstructions spanning roughly the last 11,700 years. The geographic focus included the Florida Keys, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean, regions where ocean circulation, temperature, salinity, storms, and sea-level dynamics interact in complex ways and where coastal and marine ecosystems are especially sensitive. By developing new paleoclimate reconstructions for these areas, the project aimed to provide clearer context for what "natural" climate variability has looked like in the past, including the timing, magnitude, and frequency of shifts that occurred before modern instrumental records.

From a management and decision-support perspective, the opportunity framed these reconstructions as a tool for impact assessment and planning. Understanding how these coastal and marine systems responded to past environmental changes helps resource managers and planners distinguish longer-term background variability from more recent trends, and it can improve scenario planning for future climate change and sea-level rise. The ultimate intent was for the resulting science to inform management decision making that affects coastal communities and ecosystems, especially in regions expected to face increasing impacts from rising seas and other climate-driven stressors.

Finally, the opportunity explicitly tied this work to Department of the Interior secretarial priorities, emphasizing the broader goal of building a conservation stewardship legacy and, more specifically, using science to identify best practices for managing land and water resources and adapting to environmental change. In that sense, the grant was not only about producing academic reconstructions of past climate, but also about generating actionable, decision-relevant knowledge that can be applied to real-world conservation and adaptation challenges in vulnerable coastal and marine environments.

• 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, Desert Southwest 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 Jul 09, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 26, 2019. (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 $350,000.00 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).

Apply for G19AS00093

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: