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

FAQs: USGS Powell Center Cooperative Agreement (Funding Opportunity Number G23AS00112)

What is this funding opportunity?

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.

What is the project theme or focus area?

The project theme is "Synthesizing patterns and drivers of changes in lake zooplankton community dynamics worldwide." The emphasis is on pulling together large, existing sources of information to understand how lake zooplankton communities have been changing across space and time.

What type of award is being offered?

The award is a cooperative agreement. This typically implies substantial involvement by the federal sponsor during the project, such as collaboration on project direction, data standards, integration with existing USGS efforts, and/or coordination around dissemination.

Which USGS office or center is sponsoring the work?

The opportunity is offered through the USGS Powell Center.

What is the maximum (ceiling) award amount?

The award ceiling is $100,000.

What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?

The opportunity is issued under CFDA 15.808.

When was the opportunity created?

The opportunity was created on 2022-12-13.

What was the original application closing date?

The original closing date listed for applications was 2023-01-13.

What is the core aim of the funded project?

The core aim is data synthesis and integration at a global scale, focused on lake zooplankton community dynamics and their drivers of change.

Is this project expected to generate new field data?

The description emphasizes synthesizing and integrating large, existing sources of information. It specifically highlights pulling together existing datasets rather than focusing on new sampling.

What kinds of data are expected to be integrated?

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.

What is a major expected deliverable?

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.

What does "harmonized dataset" mean in the context of this opportunity?

In practice, it 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.

What are the open-science expectations for this project?

The dataset is intended to be openly accessible and interoperable. The work must align with FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and TRUST principles for repositories (transparency, responsibility, user focus, sustainability, technology).

Does this opportunity require data to be publicly accessible?

Yes. The description states that the dataset is intended to be openly accessible and interoperable, with expectations aligned to FAIR and TRUST.

Beyond publishing data, what else is expected to broaden usability?

The opportunity calls for building practical infrastructure that encourages and broadens use of the resulting products, not just releasing files or tables.

Is an application or interface tool mentioned as part of the deliverables?

Yes. The opportunity specifically mentions developing a Shiny App, suggesting a user-friendly interface to explore, filter, visualize, and potentially download or summarize the compiled zooplankton and linked environmental data without requiring specialized coding skills.

What kinds of scientific questions is the project meant to enable?

The project is meant to enable questions about how zooplankton can serve as indicators and how their traits and communities shift under environmental pressures, including climate-related drivers.

What are the main analytical directions listed in the opportunity?

The opportunity lists four main analytical directions: (1) identifying aspects of zooplankton community structure that are sensitive and broadly applicable indicators of environmental change and whether those indicators differ by geography or lake characteristics; (2) testing whether "space for time" substitution approaches produce reproducible patterns in community dynamics; (3) examining variability in zooplankton body size and whether body size can be tied to fundamental ecosystem characteristics; and (4) assessing how zooplankton respond to climate change by linking community/trait shifts to climate-relevant drivers.

What does the opportunity mean by "space for time" substitution?

Within this opportunity, it refers to using spatial gradients to infer temporal change, and evaluating whether that approach yields reproducible patterns in zooplankton community dynamics.

What climate-related drivers are mentioned as potential linkages?

The description mentions linking responses to temperature trends, ice phenology, stratification patterns, or other climate-relevant drivers derived from in situ and remote sensing sources.

What does the opportunity suggest about traits and body size?

One analytical direction is examining variability in zooplankton body size and evaluating whether body size can be tied to fundamental ecosystem characteristics.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is limited because the award is issued through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. Applicants must be participating partners of the Great Lakes-Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.

The opportunity lists "Eligible Applicants: Others." What does that mean here?

While the listing shows "Eligible Applicants: Others," the CESU requirement effectively narrows eligibility to organizations that are already formal partners within the Great Lakes-Northern Forests CESU network.

What is a CESU and why does it matter for this grant?

CESUs are structured partnerships designed to connect federal agencies with academic and other research partners to deliver research, technical assistance, and education. For this opportunity, CESU participation is a gatekeeping eligibility requirement.

Why is the award described as synthesis-driven and infrastructure-heavy?

The description emphasizes integrating large, existing global data sources, producing a harmonized dataset with strong documentation and standards, aligning with FAIR and TRUST, and creating tools (like a Shiny App) to make the products broadly usable.

What are the "public goods" expected from the project?

The opportunity frames the outputs as 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) to make the information usable by a wide audience.

What audience is the resulting dataset and tools intended to support?

The intended audience includes a wide range of users interested in lake ecology, indicators of environmental change, and climate impacts on freshwater ecosystems, including users who may not have specialized coding skills.

How should the resulting dataset connect with other data systems?

The dataset should be consistent, well-documented, and easy to connect with other commonly used limnological and hydrological datasets, which implies attention to interoperability and standardized metadata.

What specific kinds of standardization are explicitly mentioned?

The opportunity explicitly mentions standardizing formats, taxonomic information, trait information (where available), sampling metadata, geospatial references, and time stamps.

Is the project global or regional in scope?

The core aim is synthesis and integration at a global scale, focusing on lake zooplankton community dynamics worldwide.