Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) invites proposals from Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Great Rivers network partners for novel research focusing on the development and application of Bayesian statistical methods. This funding opportunity seeks to advance methodologies for analyzing passive bat acoustic monitoring data, specifically for estimating species occurrence and relative abundance at un-surveyed locations and assessing their associations with meaningful environmental predictors. Proposed methods should consider accounting for spatial correlation and integrating of multiple observer information to address the misclassification process inherent in acoustic data.

Passive acoustic monitoring represents a cost-effective and technologically advanced approach for collecting extensive biological observations. The primary scientific challenge lies in translating these massive datasets into dynamic and interactive maps of species occurrence and relative abundance. Enhancing the ability to generate these maps directly supports land management and state agency conservation and restoration efforts, aligning with the Department of the Interior's (DOI) strategic goals to restore lands and waters, protect species, and provide reliable scientific information through collaborative partnerships (SO 3356: Shooting, and Wildlife Conservation Opportunities and Coordination with States, Tribes, and Territories (September 15, 2017)). These efforts will directly support EO 14303 "restoring gold standard science" because fundamental to science is using statistical models that account for all sources of uncertainty when drawing conclusions from data.

Trimmed here, the full scope, expected outcomes and award criteria are on the official topic page ↗.