Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU | G18AS00077

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is this funding opportunity?

This is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary funding opportunity issued under the Department of the Interior through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network. It is specifically the Colorado Plateau CESU grant opportunity with Funding Opportunity Number G18AS00077.

What type of award is being offered?

The opportunity will be awarded as a cooperative agreement. This funding instrument generally indicates substantial involvement and collaboration with USGS scientists during the project.

How many awards are expected?

One award is expected.

What is the maximum amount that can be awarded?

The total anticipated maximum award is up to $50,000.

Is this meant to fund a broad program or a targeted project?

This call is structured to fund a targeted research effort rather than a broad multi-year program.

Who is the intended applicant/eligible organization?

Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," but the announcement indicates the intent is to fund a partner organization within the CESU network, specifically associated with the Colorado Plateau CESU.

What is the main scientific purpose of the project?

The central purpose is to evaluate whether environmental DNA (eDNA) methods for benthic invertebrates can improve the ability to detect ecological impacts caused by environmental contamination in streams and rivers.

What are benthic invertebrates and why are they important here?

Benthic invertebrates are aquatic organisms that live on or in bottom sediments of streams and rivers. They are a cornerstone of stream biomonitoring because their community composition tends to reflect cumulative environmental conditions over time.

What problem with traditional benthic invertebrate sampling is this project trying to address?

Traditional approaches rely on physically collecting organisms and identifying them, which can be time-consuming, limited by available taxonomic expertise, and sometimes insensitive to rare, cryptic, or hard-to-collect taxa. The opportunity is framed around whether molecular tools such as eDNA can reduce or overcome these constraints.

What is eDNA in the context of this opportunity?

Environmental DNA (eDNA) refers to DNA collected from the environment (for example, from water samples) that can be used to infer what organisms are present. In this project, the emphasis is on using eDNA methods to assess benthic invertebrate communities in running waters.

How is this work connected to USGS NAWQA?

The work is tied directly to the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project, which has a history of conducting regional stream-quality assessments across the United States and measuring environmental stressors alongside ecological conditions.

What dataset is highlighted as especially important for this work?

The opportunity specifically highlights the California Regional Assessment (CSQA) as a key dataset for the study.

Why is the CSQA dataset considered high value for this research question?

During CSQA, NAWQA collected eDNA samples at 84 stream sites alongside traditional macroinvertebrate sampling. This creates a rare paired dataset where molecular and conventional biological data can be compared site-by-site under the same environmental context.

How many stream sites have paired eDNA and traditional macroinvertebrate data in the highlighted dataset?

According to the opportunity description, eDNA samples were collected at 84 stream sites alongside traditional macroinvertebrate sampling during CSQA.

What types of comparisons is the proposed research expected to make?

The announcement indicates the research is expected to focus on how well eDNA-derived invertebrate signals track contamination gradients or pollutant-related stress compared to traditional macroinvertebrate metrics, using the paired dataset for site-by-site comparison.

Does NAWQA measure only contaminants, or other stressors too?

NAWQA assessments are described as measuring numerous environmental stressors at the same time as ecological conditions, and the opportunity notes that multiple stressors (for example, contaminants and other environmental pressures) are monitored concurrently.

What is the practical scope of work implied by the announcement?

In practical terms, the funded project would likely involve analyzing and interpreting existing paired eDNA and traditional macroinvertebrate datasets to determine whether eDNA improves detection, resolution, or interpretability of biological responses to contamination in streams and rivers.

Is this opportunity focused on generating new field data or analyzing existing data?

The description emphasizes leveraging an existing, high-value USGS dataset (paired eDNA and traditional macroinvertebrate data from CSQA). The expected work is described primarily as analysis and interpretation of those existing datasets.

What is the timeline information provided for this opportunity?

The opportunity was created on July 5, 2018, with an original closing date of July 20, 2018.

What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?

The opportunity falls under CFDA 15.808.

Which USGS program area does this opportunity support?

It supports water-quality science and related research and development, and is specifically tied to NAWQA regional stream-quality assessment work.

What is the core applied-science question the project is intended to answer?

The project is intended to answer whether eDNA-based benthic invertebrate assessment can more effectively detect and characterize ecological impacts of environmental contamination in streams and rivers than traditional sampling and identification methods.