Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU | G19AS00104

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00104

The grant opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU" (Funding Opportunity Number G19AS00104) was released by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), within the Department of the Interior, through the USGS Great Lakes Science Center. It is a discretionary funding opportunity offered as a cooperative agreement, which typically means the USGS expects to have substantial involvement during the project rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The activity falls under science and technology and other research and development, and it is listed under CFDA 15.808. The opportunity was created on July 9, 2019, had an original closing date of July 26, 2019, and anticipated making a single award with a maximum budget (award ceiling) of $70,000.

The purpose of the project is to support applied restoration science focused on cisco (Coregonus artedi), a native Great Lakes fish that has been a priority for restoration in places like Lake Huron. USGS is seeking a partner from the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, specifically associated with the Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU, to conduct research describing how gene expression changes during early development in cisco raised in two different settings: natural (wild) environments and hatchery environments. The underlying management need is practical and immediate: agencies are working to develop a hatchery strain that could be used to help restore cisco populations to Lake Huron, and they want to understand whether early rearing conditions in hatcheries alter gene expression in ways that could later influence adult traits (phenotype), performance, survival, or fitness once stocked.

A key theme of the opportunity is linking environment, development, and biology in a way that directly informs hatchery and fisheries management decisions. Hatchery and resource managers have long been concerned that conditions early in life, such as temperature regimes, diet, density, handling, light cycles, and other rearing practices, can shape development and lead to differences that persist into adulthood. In this project, those concerns are approached through the lens of gene expression across development, with the goal of documenting when and how expression patterns shift from hatch through metamorphosis, and how those patterns compare between hatchery-reared and wild fish.

To support the work, USGS and its agency partners have already completed important foundational steps by collecting gametes and creating experimental crosses from cisco sourced from two Great Lakes systems: Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The proposed research would use these fish and focus on comparing developmental gene expression trajectories in hatchery and wild cisco originating from northern Lake Huron and western Lake Superior. The emphasis on the period from hatch to metamorphosis reflects a biologically critical window when organ systems develop rapidly and when environmental cues can have outsized, lasting effects. The results are intended to help characterize how much the hatchery environment may be steering developmental biology away from what is observed in the wild, information that can be used to adjust rearing protocols and improve the likelihood that hatchery-produced cisco will resemble and function like wild fish when used for restoration.

Eligibility is limited to CESU partners (not broadly open to all applicants), as indicated by the "EligibleApplicants: Others" designation with clarification in the additional eligibility text field. Overall, the opportunity is a targeted, small-scale research award meant to produce actionable scientific insights about early-life gene expression in cisco, directly supporting ongoing Great Lakes restoration and hatchery strain development efforts, with a particular focus on rebuilding cisco in Lake Huron.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU" 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 Jul 09, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 26, 2019. (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 $70,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G19AS00104

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