Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU | G20AS00117

Opportunity Information: Apply for G20AS00117

This funding opportunity, titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU" (Funding Opportunity Number G20AS00117), was issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of the Interior through the USGS Great Lakes Science Center. It is a discretionary science and technology research award offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning the project is expected to be carried out with substantial involvement from USGS rather than as a fully independent grant. The opportunity was created on June 30, 2020, with an original closing date of July 22, 2020, and it anticipated making a single award with a maximum funding level (award ceiling) of $60,584. Eligibility is limited to partners in the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, specifically within the Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU, with the formal eligibility details referenced in the opportunity's additional information field. The CFDA number associated with the program is 15.808.

The core purpose of the project is to improve understanding of why survival of young fish in Lake Michigan varies so dramatically from year to year, with a focus on two species that are central to Great Lakes fisheries: yellow perch and alewife. The work concentrates on the larval stage, when fish are especially sensitive to environmental conditions and food availability. Although past observations have linked recruitment and survival to a wide range of climate-related variables, the specific mechanisms and drivers behind strong versus weak year classes are still not well pinned down. This uncertainty matters because recruitment patterns ultimately shape future adult populations, which in turn influence commercial and recreational fishing opportunities. The opportunity underscores the economic relevance of these fisheries, noting that Great Lakes sport fisheries are valued at an estimated $7 billion annually, and that yellow perch and alewife have historically supported major fisheries and continue to play a significant role in the ecosystem and fishery dynamics.

The research being solicited is aimed at describing and quantifying the foraging success of larval yellow perch and alewife under both historical and future climate scenarios. Rather than relying on a single model or dataset, the study is expected to use outputs from a linked modeling framework that combines several components: regional climate models (to represent atmospheric and climate forcing), hydrodynamic models (to simulate lake circulation and temperature structure), biophysical models (to connect physical conditions to biological processes such as prey availability and growth), and Lagrangian particle models (to represent transport and dispersal pathways, which can act as a proxy for larval drift and exposure to different feeding environments). By tying these modeling pieces together, the project is meant to connect climate conditions to the actual feeding conditions larvae experience, helping explain how climate translates into survival outcomes.

The opportunity lays out three main objectives. First, it calls for an evaluation of which climatic variables and processes have historically been associated with especially strong or especially weak recruitment events for alewife and yellow perch in Lake Michigan. This implies a retrospective analysis that links model-based representations of lake conditions and larval foraging environments to known recruitment outcomes, with the goal of identifying the combinations of climate drivers and in-lake processes that tend to precede high or low survival years. Second, it asks investigators to examine the likelihood or potential for strong recruitments under future climate conditions, specifically using projected scenarios centered around roughly mid-century (about 2050) and late-century (about 2100). In practice, this means taking the same modeling framework and applying it to climate projections to assess how shifts in temperature, stratification, circulation patterns, seasonal timing, or prey dynamics might change the odds that larval fish will find enough food to survive and grow. Third, it asks for exploration of additional scenarios flagged by natural resource agency advisors, reflecting a management-relevant dimension to the work. These scenarios could involve alternative assumptions or conditions that agencies consider plausible or concerning for future recruitment outcomes, and the intent is to make the analysis more useful for real-world planning and decision-making.

Overall, the grant opportunity is a targeted research solicitation designed to produce a clearer, mechanistic picture of how climate variability and climate change may influence early-life feeding success and recruitment strength for two key Lake Michigan fishes. By combining historical analysis with future projections and agency-informed scenarios, the work is intended to support better anticipation of fish population responses, improve fisheries and ecosystem understanding, and provide information that can inform how managers think about sustaining economically and ecologically important Great Lakes fisheries under changing climate conditions.

• 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 Jun 30, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 22, 2020. (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 $60,584.00 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).

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