Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G21AS00281

Opportunity Information: Apply for G21AS00281

The Cooperative Agreement for a CESU-affiliated Partner with the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) funding opportunity designed to support collaborative research on how environmental stressors affect wildlife and ecosystems. Structured as a cooperative agreement, it is meant to create an ongoing mechanism where USGS scientists and an eligible CESU partner jointly carry out scientific research, technology development, and education-related work. The broader intent is to connect university expertise and facilities with federal science needs in order to produce actionable findings that help address real environmental problems, with benefits extending to local communities, schools, government agencies, and the general public across California and the western United States.

A key feature of this opportunity is that it is not limited to a single stand-alone study. Instead, it establishes a framework for a series of discrete, individually defined projects, each with its own objectives and expected products. The agreement begins with three initial projects, and additional projects can be added later through formal modifications. This setup is meant to keep the collaboration flexible and long-lived, allowing the research portfolio to grow as new questions emerge and as monitoring needs change over time.

Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are already participating partners in the Californian CESU Program. CESUs are partnership networks that support research, technical assistance, and education, and this award is explicitly issued under that CESU umbrella. The funding opportunity (Opportunity Number G21AS00281; CFDA 15.808) was posted by the USGS as a discretionary award with an award ceiling of $400,000. The original closing date listed for applications was February 12, 2021, and the posting date was January 26, 2021.

Scientifically, the opportunity emphasizes studying both the potential and the actual effects of environmental stressors on species of concern, using modern molecular approaches. The work centers heavily on gene transcription and transcriptomics, which can reveal how an organism is responding physiologically and metabolically to stress. The program frames stressors broadly, including physical stressors (such as injury and temperature changes), chemical stressors (including organic xenobiotics and other contaminants), and biological stressors (such as pathogens). By measuring suites of gene expression responses, researchers can generate health diagnostics that are useful at the individual level (general condition, immune function, nutritional state) and then scale those insights up to infer population health and, by extension, ecosystem condition.

The cooperative agreement is also designed to draw on and strengthen university programs and training capacity. The listed subject areas include fisheries and wildlife ecology, plant ecology, urban ecology, vertebrate taxonomy, toxicology, physiology and biochemistry, environmental chemistry methods, and environmental education. In practice, that means participating institutions can contribute faculty expertise, laboratory and analytical capabilities, and student involvement, while coordinating closely with USGS scientists on study design, sampling, and interpretation. The description also highlights that USGS and its CESU partner(s) will work together on developing the gene primers and other molecular tools needed to carry out these transcription-based assessments, indicating substantial federal scientific involvement rather than a hands-off grant model.

The first initiating project focuses on polar bears and the Arctic: "Wild Immunology: Polar Bears, Climate Change, and Oil Exploration." Its overarching goal is to assess and monitor polar bear (Ursus maritimus) health and broader Arctic ecosystem health in the context of climate change and increasing oil exploration. The main objectives include continuing development of diagnostic gene transcript panels using transcriptomics; continuing collection of polar bear blood samples from both free-ranging and captive animals; and applying these transcript panels and transcriptome technologies to targeted questions about health, including nutritional status and how contaminants may affect immune function. The anticipated timeframe is approximately five years, reflecting the monitoring-oriented, longitudinal nature of the work.

The second project shifts to the Mojave Desert: "Wild Immunology: Desert Tortoise Health Diagnostics in a Changing Desert Ecosystem." The aim is to develop a gene transcript panel for the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) that can detect physiological disruption in individuals and populations potentially affected by human activities, specifically noting alternative energy development and military exercises as examples of disturbance. The objectives are more method-development heavy at the front end: optimizing whether RNA can be reliably isolated from tortoise blood stored in PaxGene tubes; selecting roughly 20 to 30 informative genes that best differentiate among stress-induced physiological changes; isolating and sequencing those genes in desert tortoise; building real-time PCR assays for each gene; establishing a reference baseline using blood from captive tortoises; and finally running the gene panel on a large sample set (approximately 200 to 300 tortoise samples). Like the other projects, the approximate duration is about five years, suggesting a progression from assay development to broad field application and interpretation.

The third project addresses a coastal and nearshore system: "Wild Immunology: Sea Otters, Climate Change, and Population Health." Its goal is to assess and monitor sea otter (Enhydra lutris) health and nearshore ecosystem health in the context of climate change and shifting food web dynamics. The approach mirrors the polar bear project: continued development of diagnostic gene transcript panels using transcriptomics; continued blood sampling from both free-ranging and captive sea otters; and applying the molecular tools to understand questions such as nutritional condition and contaminant impacts on immune function. This project is also expected to run for roughly five years, reinforcing the program emphasis on sustained monitoring and iterative refinement of diagnostics.

Across all three projects, the common thread is the use of gene transcription as a unifying diagnostic lens that can work across very different ecosystems and taxa, from marine mammals to desert reptiles. The opportunity description points out that transcription-based responses can be interpreted across diverse species, even extending conceptually from mollusks to mammals, and can integrate signals of toxicological exposure, immune activation or suppression, and disease-related physiological changes. In addition to the headline species in the initial projects, the broader research direction mentions other high-profile and ecologically important organisms, including sea turtles (Chelonioidea), migratory birds, and sentinel prey species such as the blue mussel, which is described as an important food web component and indicator species. The overall outcome USGS is aiming for is a set of practical, science-based tools and findings that help predict survival prospects, understand population sustainability, and clarify how environmental impacts translate into measurable biological effects.

• 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 Californian 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 2021-01-26.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-02-12. (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 $400,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G21AS00281

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