Grants / Department of the Interior / Geological Survey

G21AS00315: Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

Closed Closed March 3, 2021 Opportunity G21AS00315 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with Alaska Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (G27AS00066). Status: Closes December 7, 2026 (30 days left). It is in our archive of Geological Survey notices from 2021.

• Award ceiling$84,000
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESU's are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (DSCESU) Program.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection awards averaged $557,251; this notice allows up to $84,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (84% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

U.S. Geological survey is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU Partner for project titled: “Web-based Help for Invasive Species Control (WHISC) - Research and Programming Support”. Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) is an invasive perennial that threatens the Sonoran desert ecosystems by out-competing native species and altering fire regimes. Current adaptive management actions have concluded that efforts to control buffelgrass must include the targeted application of herbicide, but the herbicide is only effective if applied when the buffelgrass is photosynthetically active, or "green". Buffelgrass persists in the landscape in a highly-flammable senesced state and greens up periodically during the year when sufficient precipitation is received. The localized, heavy rains received during the monsoon season make it difficult to predict when and where it will be green and therefore susceptible to herbicide treatment. The need to enhance the effectiveness as well as to optimize the timing of herbicide treatment for buffelgrass is a high priority for regional land managers. This research is developing a web-based tool that allows managers to predict and confirm optimal timing for herbicide application for invasive species control and to prioritize buffelgrass management activities in their region. This tool is based on the science published by USGS (Wallace et al. 2016) that mapped buffelgrass presence and proposed a strategy to optimize timing of herbicide treatment. The study successfully mapped even low densities of buffelgrass (5%) by developing innovative metrics that coupled Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery and PRISM precipitation data. These “Climate Landscape Response” (CLaRe) metrics leverage the degree of correlation between satellite-detected greenness and precipitation values in each 250m pixel. They expose buffelgrass due to its rapid green-up response to precipitation events, which is reflected in higher CLaRe correlation values. Adding even small amounts of buffelgrass to the native vegetation types is shown to dramatically shifts the CLaRe values higher. Furthermore, CLaRe values are shown to stratify the landscape by relative rooting depths, with deeply rooted vegetation types, such as forest and woodland, showing overall lower CLaRe values than the grasslands and scrub types. Based on these and other results, Wallace et al.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, G27AS00066, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.