Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Gulf Coast CESU

Post Date

March 23rd 2015

Application Due Date

April 6th 2015

Funding Opportunity Number

G15AS00055

CFDA Number(s)

15.808

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Science and Technology and other Research and Development

Number of Awards

1

Eligibility Categories

Other

This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESU_s are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $235995

• Award Range:

  $0 - $0

Grant Description

This CESU solicitation is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to develop exactly dated chronologies from the shells of Serripes groenlandicus and Nuculana radiata as indicators of benthic production for comparisons with potential environmental drivers, including sea ice. The decline of Arctic sea ice is predicted to promote an ecosystem shift from benthic-dominated to pelagic-dominated communities on Arctic shelves, raising concern for species like walrus and eiders that feed on benthic organisms. Sea ice dynamics are thought to support a rich benthic ecosystem by promoting the export of surface primary production to the ocean floor. As sea ice extent diminishes, more prolonged open-water phytoplankton blooms and increased zooplankton grazing may increasingly route surface primary production to pelagic consumers. The pace of declining benthic production has been difficult to quantify, leaving resource managers with much uncertainty. To relate annually resolved growth increments in benthic bivalves with satellite derived sea ice records to develop a predictive relationship between sea ice and benthic production. Bivalves are a key prey item for both walrus and eiders. The relative contributions of sea ice algae and phytoplankton, the two major sources of surface primary production, will also be described for bivalves using stable isotope analysis. Changes in bivalve size will be converted to differences in caloric content available to predators. Combining these products with model projections of future sea ice cover will allow to predict the pace of community shifts, clarify the underlying mechanism, and provide an early warning system for DOI managed species that rely on benthic habitats.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of the Interior

• Office:

  Geological Survey

• Agency Contact:

  Faith Graves, 703-648-7356
  fgraves@usgs.gov
  

• Agency Mailing Address:

  fgraves@usgs.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  fgraves@usgs.gov

• More Information:

  http://www.grants.gov/