Ecosystem Science

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Apply to PD 04-7381 as follows:

For full proposals submitted via FastLane: standard Grant Proposal Guidelines apply.
For full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide; A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf)

DUE DATES

SYNOPSIS

The Ecosystem Science Cluster supports research that advances our understanding of: 1) material and energy transformations within and among ecosystems, 2) the composition and structure of ecological systems, 3) ecosystem dynamics and trajectories of ecosystem development through time, and 4) linkages among ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales. Research on natural, managed and disturbed ecosystems is supported, including terrestrial, freshwater, wetland, coastal (including salt marsh and mangrove), and human-dominated environments. Observational and manipulative approaches in field, mesocosm, and laboratory settings are supported, with the expectation that the research is driven by questions or hypotheses. Proposals that incorporate quantitative or conceptual modeling efforts promoting integration, synthesis, and theory development and testing are encouraged. Projects that are potentially transformative -- that is, those that may change the conceptual basis of ecosystem science and have broad implications for future research -- are given particular priority.  The Ecosystem Science Cluster funds projects within the Ecosystem Studies Program as well as CAREER, LTER, LTREB and OPUS. Other relevant funding opportunities are listed below as well as on DEB Home (see link on left). 

The Ecosystem Studies Program supports investigations of whole-system ecological processes and relationships in ecosystems across a diversity of spatial and temporal (including paleo) scales.  Proposals may focus on areas such as: biogeochemistry; nutrient cycling; energy flow; primary productivity; stoichiometric relationships; climate-ecosystem feedbacks; radiatively active gas flux; element budgets on watershed, regional, continental, or global scales; relationships between diversity and ecosystem function; ecosystem services; and landscape dynamics.  Proposals will be considered that focus on advancing ecosystem science through either the pursuit of new theoretical paradigms or novel modeling efforts.  Proposals that, in whole or part, strive to develop new techniques can be supported when a compelling argument exists that there is the potential for a major advance in ecosystem research.  Inter- and multi-disciplinary proposals that fall across traditional programmatic boundaries are welcomed and encouraged.  Proposals may focus on the cycling of non-nutrient elements, but proposals that are ecotoxicological in orientation will not be considered.  Ecosystem-oriented proposals that focus on coastal marine or deep ocean or Great Lakes habitats are reviewed by the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences.  Studies of the structure of and linkages within food webs are reviewed by the Ecological Biology program, also in the Division of Environmental Biology.  Unsolicited proposals to the Ecosystem Studies Program should be prepared as described in the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG).

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program supports fundamental ecological research that requires long time periods and large spatial scales at a coordinated network of more than two dozen field sites.  LTER is not currently soliciting proposals for new sites and does not accept unsolicited proposals from LTER or non-LTER PIs.  For more information and announcements of opportunity, visit the LTER web page [http://www.lternet.edu/]. 

RELATED PROGRAMS

Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems

Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program

Long Term Research in Environmental Biology

Opportunities for Promoting Understanding through Synthesis

Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program

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