Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated with Great Lakes Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00112

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00112

This opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G23AS00112) is a discretionary, science and technology focused cooperative agreement offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) through its Powell Center. The project theme is "Synthesizing patterns and drivers of changes in lake zooplankton community dynamics worldwide," with an emphasis on pulling together large, existing sources of information to better understand how lake zooplankton communities have been changing across space and time. The award ceiling is $100,000, and it is issued under CFDA 15.808. The original closing date listed for applications was 2023-01-13, and the opportunity was created on 2022-12-13.

The core aim is data synthesis and integration at a global scale. The funded work is expected to combine a temporal and spatial freshwater zooplankton dataset with other relevant information streams, including existing in situ measurements, remote sensing products, and modeling outputs. A major deliverable is a harmonized dataset that is flexible enough to support different kinds of analyses while still being consistent, well-documented, and easy to connect with other commonly used limnological and hydrological datasets. In practice, this means careful standardization of formats, taxonomic and trait information (where available), sampling metadata, geospatial references, and time stamps so the resulting product can be reliably reused beyond the original research team.

A strong open-science expectation runs through the description. The dataset is intended to be openly accessible and interoperable, and it must align with FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) as well as TRUST principles for repositories (transparency, responsibility, user focus, sustainability, technology). Beyond publishing data, the work also calls for building practical infrastructure that encourages and broadens use of the resulting products. The opportunity specifically mentions developing a Shiny App, which suggests the funder wants a user-friendly interface for exploring, filtering, visualizing, and potentially downloading or summarizing the compiled zooplankton and linked environmental data without requiring specialized coding skills.

The scientific questions the project is meant to enable focus on how zooplankton can serve as indicators and how their traits and communities shift under environmental pressures. The opportunity lists four main analytical directions: first, identifying which aspects of zooplankton community structure are sensitive, broadly applicable indicators of environmental change, and whether those indicators differ by geography or by lake characteristics; second, testing whether "space for time" substitution approaches (using spatial gradients to infer temporal change) produce reproducible patterns in zooplankton community dynamics; third, examining variability in zooplankton body size and evaluating whether body size can be tied to fundamental ecosystem characteristics; and fourth, assessing how zooplankton respond to climate change, which may involve linking community and trait shifts to temperature trends, ice phenology, stratification patterns, or other climate-relevant drivers derived from in situ and remote sensing sources.

Because the award is issued through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, eligibility is limited. Applicants must be participating partners of the Great Lakes-Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. CESUs are structured partnerships designed to connect federal agencies with academic and other research partners to deliver research, technical assistance, and education, and a cooperative agreement typically implies substantial involvement by the federal sponsor during the project (for example, collaboration on project direction, data standards, integration with existing USGS efforts, or coordination around dissemination). The opportunity is listed under "Eligible Applicants: Others," but that category is effectively narrowed by the CESU requirement to organizations that are already formal partners within the specified CESU network.

Overall, the grant is best understood as support for a synthesis-driven, data-infrastructure-heavy research effort that produces both publishable scientific insights and durable public goods: a harmonized global zooplankton dataset, clear documentation and standards aligned with FAIR and TRUST, and an accessible tool (such as a Shiny App) that makes the information usable by a wide audience interested in lake ecology, environmental change indicators, and climate impacts on freshwater ecosystems.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated with Great Lakes Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" 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 2022-12-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-13. (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 $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00112

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