96-32758. Joint Program on Terrestrial Ecology and Global Change Notice 97- 02

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 249 (Thursday, December 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68026-68030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32758]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Research


Joint Program on Terrestrial Ecology and Global Change Notice 97-
02

AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Department 
of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications.

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SUMMARY: In concert with the U.S. Global Change Research Program

[[Page 68027]]

(USGCRP) and with the intent of enhancing interagency collaboration, 
the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the United 
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) announce their interest in receiving 
applications for support of grants that seek to augment research on 
terrestrial ecology as it relates to global environmental changes. This 
request for applications encourages multi-disciplinary applications 
involving companion experimental/ manipulative and modeling efforts to 
provide critically needed data and information for improved predictions 
of global change phenomena in three equally important areas: (1) the 
consequences of global-scale environmental changes on terrestrial 
ecosystems, (2) the role of terrestrial ecosystems as a source or sink 
of carbon dioxide and other trace gases, and (3) the interactions and 
feedback between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere and between 
linked ecosystems at watershed and landscape scales.
    This request for applications extends the research begun as a 
result of the first two Terrestrial Ecology and Global Change (TECO) 
competitions in FY 1995 and FY 1996. It also extends current USGCRP 
activities supported by the five participating agencies that are 
relevant to this notice. These activities include the NSF Ecological 
Rates of Change (EROC), Water, Energy, Atmosphere, Vegetation and Earth 
(WEAVE), Land Margin Ecosystem Research (LMER), and Ecological 
Diversity (ED), the DOE Program on Ecosystem Research (PER), 
Terrestrial Carbon Processes (TCP), and the National Institute for 
Global Environmental Change (NIGEC), the NASA programs on Terrestrial 
Ecology and Land Cover and Land Use Change, the USDA programs on 
Forest/Range/Crop/Aquatic Ecosystems, Soils and Soil Biology, and Plant 
Responses to the Environment (PRE), and the EPA program on Regional 
Ecological Vulnerabilities to Climate Change.
    Applications submitted in response to this interagency announcement 
are to be submitted to DOE. Each agency supporting an award, however, 
will act as the sole administrative unit for that award. All successful 
awards will be identified with the joint effort. The participating 
agencies will jointly manage the TECO program throughout the entire 
phase from the receipt and review of applications until the close-out 
of awards.
    It is expected that 15-18 awards up to 3 years in duration and not 
exceeding $500,000 per year will be issued subject to the availability 
of FY 1997 funds. Applications submitted under this notice will be 
managed, prior to award selection decisions, in accordance with the DOE 
Office of Energy Research's (ER's) Financial Assistance Program 
Regulation 10 CFR Part 605 as published in the Federal Register 
September 3, 1992, (57 FR 40582).

DATES: Submission of an original and 18 copies of each application must 
be received no later than 4:30 p.m. E.S.T., February 28, 1997, in order 
to be accepted under this notice and to permit timely consideration for 
award by the participating agencies during FY 1997.

ADDRESSES: Formal applications referencing Program Notice 97-02 on the 
cover page must be sent to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 
Research, Grants and Contracts Division, ER-64, 19901 Germantown Road, 
Germantown, MD 20874-1290, Attn: Program Notice 97-02. The above 
address for formal applications must also be used when submitting 
formal applications by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail, any commercial 
mail delivery service, or when hand carried by the applicant.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Jerry Elwood, Office of Energy 
Research, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health and Environmental 
Research, ER-74, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290, 
telephone: [phone], E-mail: [e-mail]; Dr. Roger 
Dahlman, Office of Energy Research, Office of Health and Environmental 
Research, ER-74, 19901 Germantown Rd., Germantown, MD 20874-1290, 
telephone: [phone], E-mail: [e-mail]; Dr. Scott 
Collins, Division of Environmental Biology, Room 635 National Science 
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230, telephone: (703) 
306-1479, E-mail: [e-mail]; Dr. Andy Phillips, Division of 
Integrative Biology and Neuroscience, Room 685, National Science 
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA 22230, telephone: (703) 
306-1421, E-mail: [e-mail]; Dr. Diane E. Wickland, Terrestrial 
Ecology Program, Office of Mission to Planet Earth, National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. 20546, 
telephone: [phone], E-mail: [e-mail]; Dr. 
Anthony C. Janetos, Land Cover and Land Use Change Program, Office of 
Mission to Planet Earth, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 
Washington, D.C. 20546, telephone: [phone], E-mail: 
[e-mail]; Dr. Timothy C. Strickland, National 
Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Ag Box 2241, Washington, D.C. 20250-2241, telephone: (202) 
401-4082, E-mail: [e-mail]; Ms. Barbara M. Levinson, 
Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency, 
401 M Street, N.W., Mail Code 8723, Washington, D.C. 20460, telephone: 
[phone], E-mail: [e-mail]; Dr. Robert 
Menzer, Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection 
Agency, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460, telephone: (202) 
260-5779, E-mail: [e-mail]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In concert with the U.S. Global Change 
Research Program (USGCRP) and with the intent of enhancing interagency 
collaboration, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of 
Energy (DOE) , the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
(NASA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seek to augment terrestrial 
ecological research with this special competition. This competition 
will allow more comprehensive research on the combined response of 
terrestrial ecosystems to global-scale environmental changes that are 
occurring or are expected to occur and the influence of terrestrial 
ecosystems on environmental phenomena.
    In recent decades, extensive efforts have been made to characterize 
and monitor the distribution and state of terrestrial ecosystems. 
Various global-scale environmental changes that are known or have the 
potential to affect terrestrial ecosystems have already been documented 
(e.g., increasing atmospheric CO2 and other trace gases, global 
average increase in temperature, decreasing stratospheric ozone and 
increases in tropospheric ozone, and land transformations, including 
changes in land cover and land use). Some of these changes are expected 
to continue, if not increase due to continuing human activities. Other 
potential global-scale environmental changes could occur in the future 
due directly or indirectly to human activities (e.g., altered 
precipitation patterns, increased severity and frequency of extreme 
events related to climate change). Presently, what is lacking is an 
understanding of the potential

[[Page 68028]]

combined effects of global-scale environmental changes on essential 
ecosystem components, functions, and processes, particularly the 
effects of multiple and interacting environmental changes such as 
changes in climate and atmospheric composition and land transformations 
that are outside the range normally experienced by terrestrial 
ecosystems. There are also significant uncertainties regarding the role 
of terrestrial ecosystems in affecting global-scale changes and how 
natural and human-induced changes in terrestrial ecosystems may 
influence global phenomena. It is unclear from existing information how 
the essential functions of species or ecosystems are being or will be 
affected by global environmental changes in the future, on scales from 
individual organisms to populations, communities, ecosystems, 
landscapes and subcontinental regions. Without the ability to make such 
projections, implications for the sustainability of ecosystems as a 
support system for humans remain uncertain.
    The goal for this research is to improve the scientific 
understanding of how species, ecological characteristics and processes, 
and ecosystems effect and are affected by global change over a range of 
time scales. To enhance capabilities to assess the probable 
consequences of multiple influences (e.g., concurrent changes in 
climate, atmospheric composition, land transformations/land use) and 
their feedback effects. The research also will increase the capability 
for extending experimentally-derived information obtained at smaller 
geographical scales (e.g., plot-size, stand-level, patch-size) and 
shorter time frames (e.g., growing seasons) to landscape and larger 
scales (e.g., regions, river basins) at longer temporal intervals 
(e.g., decades, centuries).
    To achieve this scientific understanding, innovative field 
experiments and observational studies are needed to address 
interactions of ecological processes and combinations of effects 
related to global change; to relate observed effects to causative 
factors; and to test predictive response models. Also, to improve 
predictability, new modeling efforts will be needed for extrapolating 
information to other systems and across multiple scales that will 
contribute to the development of regional and subcontinental models and 
ecological models that are fully interactive with other Earth system 
models (e.g., Dynamic Global Vegetation Models). Agencies involved in 
this interagency announcement encourage multi-disciplinary applications 
involving companion experimental, manipulative and modeling efforts to 
provide critically needed data and understanding for improved 
predictions of global change phenomena in the following, equally 
important areas:

(1) Consequences of Global Change on Ecosystems.

    The goal of research in this area is to provide a stronger 
scientific basis for understanding, predicting, and assessing the 
effects of human-induced and natural influences on terrestrial 
ecosystems, including aquatic ecosystems imbedded within terrestrial 
ecosystems (e.g., streams, lakes, wetlands). It is hypothesized that 
ecosystems are changing or will change in response to climate and land 
use changes of the past century and predicted future changes due to the 
enhanced greenhouse effect and increasing demands on land for food, 
fiber, and other human uses. Understanding the consequences of these 
and other global-scale changes on terrestrial ecosystems, organisms, 
and resources presents unprecedented challenges because many other 
types of change are occurring simultaneously. There is a need to 
understand how existing terrestrial ecosystems are likely to respond to 
ongoing or predicted environmental changes, and to relate observed 
changes to likely causes using experimental approaches that examine 
phenomena at multiple scales. There is also a need to consider the 
adaptive potential of terrestrial ecosystems to environmental changes 
and to incorporate the influence of ongoing adaptive changes through 
time. Also, the research needs to provide the quantitative information 
for models that generalize from selected study sites to broader areas 
at local, regional and global levels at multiple temporal scales.
    The focus of research on consequences should be on improving the 
scientific understanding of how the structure and function of 
terrestrial ecosystems will respond to global change, including changes 
in land use and land cover, climate, and atmospheric composition. The 
research should improve the scientific basis for assessing the 
vulnerability of different ecosystems to global changes, including the 
potential beneficial and adverse effects of such changes on ecosystem 
components and processes of utilitarian and/or intrinsic value to 
humans. This capability should also include projecting potential 
ecological effects of future environments that many ecological 
communities may not yet have experienced, and the potential role of 
natural selection in driving these changes. Experimental and modeling 
research is encouraged:
    * To understand and predict how ecosystem processes (e.g., net 
primary production, respiration, net ecosystem productivity) are 
affected by combinations of altered atmospheric CO2 and other 
trace gas concentrations (e.g., ozone), different climate conditions, 
changing resource constraints (e.g., nutrients, water and light), and 
changing land-use patterns (e.g., urban/suburban sprawl, conversion of 
forest to other uses);
    * To identify and quantify the mechanism(s) or process(es) 
controlling observed responses to altered climatic and atmospheric 
conditions and altered land cover or land use, and to understand both 
the potential for these mechanisms and processes to undergo adaptation 
to the changes through physiological adaptations and natural selection, 
and the consequences of adaptive responses and evolutionary changes on 
ecosystem function;
    * To investigate trends, patterns, and relationships among 
vegetation, climate, and land use to document and understand the 
interaction between natural and human-dominated systems;
    * To determine how biological and ecological responses to global-
scale environmental changes are manifested at higher levels of 
ecosystem hierarchy (populations, communities, ecosystem, landscape) of 
terrestrial environments;
    * To identify changes in structural components (e.g., landscape 
pattern, community structure, architectural properties of vegetation), 
caused by different atmospheric, climatic, and land-use activities that 
will predict the future structure and distribution of ecosystems;
    * To understand and predict the effects of combinations of altered 
CO2, climate conditions, changing resource constraints and land-
use change on biodiversity (e.g., genetic diversity, species diversity, 
habitat diversity).

(2) Carbon, CO2 , and Other Trace Gases Related to Global 
Change

    The goal of research in this area is to improve the scientific 
basis for understanding, predicting and assessing the quantitative role 
of the terrestrial biosphere as a source or sink of radiatively active 
trace gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The 
combined results of process, observation, and global modeling studies 
strongly suggest that terrestrial ecosystems must be taking up and 
storing significant amounts of carbon each year, yet we do not know 
where it is going, how long this might continue, and whether this 
storage will be

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permanent or only temporary. Improved databases, experiments and 
process models are needed:
    * To understand complex interactions that control exchange of 
CO2 and other trace gases between the biosphere and the atmosphere 
for representative terrestrial ecosystems;
    * To develop databases for the use, intercomparison, and testing of 
process-based models of net ecosystem productivity, including data to 
quantify carbon content of terrestrial ecosystems and estimate how 
sources and sinks of carbon are changing;
    * To measure continental atmospheric CO2, carbon isotopes, and 
oxygen to better quantify processes of terrestrial carbon cycles.

(3) Ecosystem Feedbacks to Global Change

    The goal of research in this area is to improve the scientific 
understanding of the full range of interactions and feedbacks between 
terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere (e.g., water and energy 
exchange, aerosol exchange, nutrient fluxes), and between linked 
ecosystems at a landscape scale by, for example, biotic propagule 
dispersal, land-water interactions, biogeochemical linkages. Research 
is encouraged on how species composition, ecological properties and 
processes, changes in land use or land management practices influence 
the ability of ecosystems, for example:
    * To control or modify physical factors such as albedo, regional 
precipitation, wind speed, and particulate movement in water and air;
    * To control the movement of biological propagules between 
ecosystems and affect the spread of indigenous and non-indigenous 
species, including pest species across the landscape.
    * To control biogeochemical cycling and nutrient deposition, 
retention and transport that affect soil fertility, and water quality;
    * To regulate the exchange of energy, water, trace gases, aerosols, 
and biotic materials between the atmosphere and terrestrial environment 
under variable and/or changing climatic conditions.
    Research is also encouraged on the development and testing of 
coupled land-atmosphere models that include interactive surface-
atmosphere processes in integrative global models.
    Research proposed for this competition is encouraged to take 
advantage of existing programs, research sites and facilities, or data 
sets of other agencies with multi-disciplinary efforts. Examples of 
such existing efforts are: NASA field campaigns (FIFE, BOREAS), DOE's 
National Environmental Research Parks (NERPS), Free-Air CO2 
Enrichment (FACE) field sites, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement 
(ARM) Southern Great Plains site, and Program on Ecosystem Research 
(PER) sites, NSF's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and Land 
Margin Ecosystem Research (LMER) sites, and USDA's Management Systems 
Evaluation Areas (MSEA). Applications involving the establishment of 
new long-term research facilities or study sites must clearly 
demonstrate the need for such facilities, including the unique research 
opportunities they would provide.
    In addition to interest in applications in these three areas, one-
year scoping applications will also be considered that involve 
developing and demonstrating the feasibility of new experimental 
approaches and/or facilities for field studies to investigate the 
responses and/or feedback effects of terrestrial ecosystems to global 
environmental changes. The agencies involved in the TECO program 
recognize the need for new, innovative field experimental approaches 
and facilities to study interactive effects of environmental changes on 
terrestrial ecosystems. Accordingly, this announcement also seeks one-
year scoping applications to design and test the feasibility of new 
approaches and/or field experimental systems for studying the effects 
of environmental changes on ecosystems. Such scoping applications 
should be clearly identified as such in the title of the application.

Administrative Information

    To provide a consistent format for the submission and review of 
grant applications submitted under this notice, the preparation and 
submission of grant applications must follow the guidelines given in 
the Application Guide for the Office of Energy Research Financial 
Assistance Program 10 CFR Part 605.
    Information about the development and submission of applications, 
eligibility, limitations, evaluation, the selection process, and other 
policies and procedures may be found in 10 CFR Part 605, and in the 
Application Guide for the Office of Energy Research Financial 
Assistance Program. The Application Guide is available from the U.S. 
Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research, ER-74, 19901 
Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290. Telephone requests may be 
made by calling [phone]. Electronic access to ER's Financial 
Assistance Application Guide and forms is possible via the World Wide 
Web at: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html.
    Interested scientists at Federal agencies and Federally owned or 
operated laboratories, including Federal-Funded Research and 
Development Centers (FFRDC) must contact the web site http://
www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/lab97__02.html for information on this 
program, or seek information from a relevant agency contact listed 
above under the section entitled FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    All U.S. institutions eligible to receive grant support from DOE, 
NSF, NASA, USDA, and EPA may submit applications in response to this 
notice. NSF will not fund applications from FFRDCs.
    Applications will be subjected to formal merit review (peer review) 
and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria which 
are listed in descending order of importance codified at 10 CFR 
605.10(d):

    1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project.
    2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Methods or Approach.
    3. Competency of Applicant's Personnel and Adequacy of Proposed 
Resources.
    4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.

    As part of the evaluation, program policy factors such as the 
relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and 
an agency's programmatic needs, are also criteria used in the selection 
process. Note that external peer reviewers are selected with regard to 
both their scientific expertise and the absence of conflicts-of-
interest. Both Federal and Non-federal reviewers may be used, and 
submission of an application constitutes agreement that this is 
acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution.
    Applications must not exceed 15 pages for the project description 
section; visual materials and tables count toward the 15 page limit. No 
letters of endorsement or other appendices are allowed. Applications 
may request funding for projects with a duration not to exceed three 
years and a total budget not to exceed $500,000 per year. Final 
selection of awards by participating agencies will be determined by the 
review panel's recommendations and programmatic considerations. Each 
award will be supported by a single agency. Overall the estimated 
amount of funding for this program is $7M in FY 1997, depending on the 
availability of funds from each agency. Principal investigators may be 
requested to modify their budgets and work plans to

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comply with special requirements of the particular agency supporting 
their award. The principal investigator of an award will be requested 
to travel to Washington, DC for an annual meeting of all principal 
investigators to discuss additional collaboration, sharing of 
information and interaction of efforts among successful projects funded 
through TECO and other global change programs mentioned above. Budget 
requests should include travel costs to attend such a meeting.
    DOE awards made as a result of this notice will be administered in 
accordance with the DOE Office of Energy Research Financial Assistance 
Program (10 CFR Part 605).
    NSF awards made as a result of this notice will be administered in 
accordance with the terms of conditions of SF GC-1, Grant General 
Condition or FDP-II, Federal Demonstration Project. Copies of these 
documents are available at no cost from the NSF Form and Publication 
Unit, telephone: [phone], or via E-mail: (internet: 
[e-mail]). More comprehensive information is contained in the NSF 
grant Policy Manual (NSF 95-26, July 1995), for sale through the 
Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 
20402. The telephone number at GPO is [phone] for subscription 
information.
    NASA grant or cooperative agreement awards made as a result of this 
notice will be administered in accordance with the NASA Grant and 
Cooperative Agreement Handbook (NHB 5800.1).
    USDA award authority for this program is contained in section 2(b) 
of the Act of August 4, 1965, as amended (7 U.S.C. 450i(b)). Under this 
program, subject to the availability of funds, the Secretary may award 
competitive research grants for periods not to exceed five years for 
the support of research projects to further the programs of the 
Department of Agriculture (USDA). Applications may be submitted by any 
state agricultural experiment station, college, private organization, 
corporation, or individual. Applications from scientists at non-United 
States organizations will not be considered for support. Pursuant to 
Section 712 of Public Law 103-330 (the Agriculture, Rural Development, 
Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
1995) funds available in fiscal year 1995 to pay indirect costs on 
research grants award competitively by CSREES may not exceed 14 per 
centum of the total Federal funds provided under each award. In 
addition, pursuant to Section 719(b) of Public Law 103-330, in the case 
of any equipment or product that may be authorized to be purchased with 
the funds provided under this Program, entities are encouraged to 
purchase only American-made equipment or products.

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this 
program is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 
CFR Part 605.

    Issued in Washington DC on December 18, 1995.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director for Resource Management, Office of Energy Research.
[FR Doc. 96-32758 Filed 12-24-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P