Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00391

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the funding opportunity number for this grant?

The Funding Opportunity Number (FON) is G23AS00391.

Which federal agency is offering this funding?

The opportunity is offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Is this a grant or another type of federal assistance?

This is a USGS discretionary financial assistance announcement, and the funding instrument is a cooperative agreement.

What does it mean that the award is a cooperative agreement?

A cooperative agreement indicates that USGS expects substantial involvement in the project beyond providing funding. Based on the announcement description, that involvement may include close coordination with USGS scientists on study design, data collection approaches, analysis plans, and deliverables.

Is this opportunity part of a specific partnership program?

Yes. The opportunity is issued under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) framework and is specifically tied to the Gulf Coast CESU.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is limited to participating partners of the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (Gulf Coast CESU). Although the eligible applicant type is listed as "Others," the CESU requirement narrows eligibility to formal Gulf Coast CESU partner institutions.

Can a non-CESU organization apply if it has relevant expertise?

Not under the terms described. The announcement limits applicants to participating partners of the Gulf Coast CESU.

What is the Assistance Listing (CFDA) number for this opportunity?

The Assistance Listing (CFDA) is 15.808.

What activity category does this opportunity fall under?

The project is listed under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category.

What is the main research focus of the project?

The central research focus is evaluating whether the electron transport system (ETS) assay can function as a practical physiological proxy for measuring thermal tolerance in freshwater fish.

What is the ETS assay being used to estimate in this project?

The ETS assay is being evaluated as a way to estimate thermal tolerance by using ETS-based measurements related to metabolic and respiratory capacity at the cellular level, with the goal of determining whether those measurements reliably indicate how well fish can withstand heat stress.

Why is USGS interested in ETS assays as a proxy for thermal tolerance?

The opportunity highlights the potential for ETS assays to provide a more efficient or scalable approach to assessing vulnerability to warming temperatures than more time-consuming whole-organism thermal performance tests, depending on how the research is designed and validated.

What problem or gap is this funding intended to address?

The opportunity is motivated in part by a recognized data gap: there is limited information on how physiological or performance-related traits linked to thermal vulnerability vary across a species range, even though there is strong interest in understanding why some species (and populations) are more vulnerable than others under thermal stress.

Does the opportunity emphasize variation within a species, not just differences between species?

Yes. The framing emphasizes building knowledge across geography within species, especially for species distributed across multiple degrees of latitude where populations may experience different temperature regimes and may show local adaptation or acclimation differences.

Why does latitude or geography matter for this research topic?

The description notes that species with distributions spanning multiple degrees of latitude can encounter very different thermal conditions across their range. That creates a need to understand whether physiological traits related to heat stress differ by location, which is important for forecasting climate-related risk and informing conservation or management decisions.

What types of fish does the opportunity focus on?

The research focus described is on freshwater fish.

How is this research expected to be used?

The stated intent is to improve tools available to assess freshwater fish sensitivity to temperature. If ETS assays are validated as a strong proxy for thermal tolerance, they could help assess vulnerability to warming temperatures and support climate-related risk forecasting and conservation or management decisions.

What is the maximum funding amount available under this announcement?

The award ceiling is $350,000, which indicates the maximum anticipated funding level for a single award under this announcement.

How many awards will be made?

The provided listing shows "ExpectedAwards:" without a number included in the source text provided, so the number of expected awards is not specified in the information available here.

What was the original closing date for applications?

The original closing date listed is July 7, 2023.

When was the opportunity created?

The opportunity was created on June 7, 2023.

Is this opportunity competitive and open to all institutions?

It is not broadly open based on the information provided. It is a CESU-tied opportunity with narrow eligibility limited to Gulf Coast CESU participating partners, which is consistent with CESU opportunities being routed through established cooperative networks rather than open competition among all entities.

What does the CESU model imply about how the project will be carried out?

The CESU program model is described as using partnerships to provide research, technical assistance, and education in support of federal science needs. In this case, the project is intended to support applied research that USGS can collaborate on closely with an eligible CESU-affiliated partner.

What is the overall goal of the opportunity in plain language?

The overall goal is to support applied research to test whether ETS assays can reliably indicate heat tolerance in freshwater fish, and to help fill key knowledge gaps about how thermal vulnerability-related traits vary across species and across geographic ranges.