Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit
USGS will fund a CESU partner to conduct cooperative research on Great Lakes fish ecology, movement, population dynamics, and management support across the basin and tributary systems.
⚑ Eligible applicants must be participating partners of the Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). · Cooperative Agreement; award ceiling $475,000. · Research spans up to five years and may include data analysis, reporting, and conceptual development of assessment approaches.
This is fish ecology and resource-management research in the Great Lakes, which is outside IPPRA’s social-behavioral risk, policy, warning, and energy/public-opinion lines. The team could maybe contribute only tangentially on stakeholder communication or policy framing, but it is not a plausible PI-level fit for any roster member.
JUDGED AGAINST THE ROSTER'S PUBLICATION DOSSIER · GPT-5.4-MINI · 2026-11-06
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 70 strong | technical depth: substantial; funds applied research |
| IPPRA | 58 good | portfolio topics: environment, water_resources; signature methods: community engaged; social/behavioral work is minor; funds applied research; biomedical core — IPPRA health lane is communication/crisis/policy (capped) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 30 weak | funds applied research; deep-tech content |
Description
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research addressing the ecology, behavior, population dynamics, and resource management of fish across the Great Lakes basin and their tributary systems. The Great Lakes constitute the largest system of freshwater lakes on Earth and support exceptionally diverse native fish assemblages of significant ecological, economic, and cultural importance. These systems are subject to ongoing and interacting environmental stressors, including habitat alteration, invasive species, nutrient loading, and contaminants. Decades of management efforts have produced measurable improvements at many sites, yet substantial knowledge gaps remain in our understanding of fish population responses to these stressors and to restoration and remediation actions. Sound, science-based management of Great Lakes fish resources requires robust, current, and spatially explicit data on fish ecology across all five lakes and their connected tributary networks.
USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) has been tasked with developing a cooperative research program capable of addressing a broad range of fish-related questions across the Great Lakes basin. Research may span individual lakes or tributary systems and may address topics including, but not limited to, population connectivity, movement ecology, habitat selection, community dynamics, behavioral ecology, and restoration effectiveness. Data analysis, reporting, and conceptual development of assessment approaches under this agreement will advance understanding of current environmental conditions across the Great Lakes basin and support evidence-based management and recovery planning over the next five years.
Eligibility
This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Program. CESU's are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: Geological Survey <katherine_calder@ios.doi.gov>
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