Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G21AS00529

Opportunity Information: Apply for G21AS00529

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G21AS00529) is a US Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement aimed specifically at partners in the Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). It supports collaborative, applied research in flow-ecology, with a focus on testing how different aspects of river flow regimes relate to fish population dynamics. The bigger purpose is practical as well as scientific: strengthening the evidence base that water resource managers can use when making decisions about river operations, environmental flows, and aquatic ecosystem protection, by clarifying the mechanisms that connect changes in streamflow to changes in fish populations and communities.

The funded partner is expected to contribute substantial analytical capacity, most notably by supporting at least one doctoral student (or providing equivalent technical expertise) to work directly with the USGS principal investigator and a broader project team that includes academic and agency scientists. The work centers on assembling, cleaning, and standardizing multiple long-term datasets, then running statistical analyses to evaluate pre-specified hypotheses about which components of streamflow most strongly influence fish population changes. In parallel, the project emphasizes transparency and reuse: the recipient will help package both the curated datasets and the full analysis code for public release in a user-friendly format such as R Markdown, Jupyter Notebooks, or another format agreed upon with the USGS lead and the team. The expectation is that the resulting hypothesis tests and findings will be written up for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, with the student(s) collaborating on synthesis and manuscript preparation.

The technical scope is organized around three core research objectives. First, the project calls for the complete compilation and standardization of 20 time series of annual fish count data. This is not just basic data gathering; it includes formatting the datasets so they can be analyzed jointly across systems and species, and annotating each dataset with additional contextual information. That annotation includes species-specific traits (characteristics that may influence how a species responds to flow variation) and river system characteristics (contextual attributes that can shape ecological responses and affect comparability across sites). Second, the project will analyze fish population dynamics in relation to streamflow components, using regression-based approaches to assess support for alternative hypothesized flow drivers. A key point is that the analyses are meant to consider both river context and species traits, rather than treating all populations as interchangeable, so the modeling approach should account for those sources of variation when evaluating which flow metrics best explain observed population patterns. Third, the project requires compiling the final datasets and model code used in the analyses into a public-facing, accessible release package, enabling other researchers and practitioners to reproduce results, build on the workflow, or apply similar methods to new systems.

Administratively, this opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, which typically implies substantial involvement and collaboration with USGS during the project rather than a more hands-off grant. It falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category and is associated with CFDA number 15.808. Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are already participating partners of the Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast CESU, reflecting the CESU program structure as a network designed to provide research, technical assistance, and education through partnerships. The posting lists an award ceiling of $29,300, with the original closing date shown as 2021-06-24 and a creation date of 2021-05-24, indicating it was a time-bound competition focused on quickly advancing a defined set of data and analysis products.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted, collaboration-heavy research award designed to (1) bring disparate long-term fish monitoring datasets into a standardized, analysis-ready form, (2) test competing hypotheses about flow-population linkages using structured regression analyses that incorporate species traits and river context, and (3) deliver a reproducible, publicly shareable package of data and code that can directly support future flow-ecology research and management applications.

• 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 Partner with Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast 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 2021-05-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-24. (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 $29,300.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G21AS00529

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