Biological Oceanography

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Bathycryroe fosteri by (Lawrence P. Madin)

The Biological Oceanography Program supports marine ecological projects in environments ranging from estuarine and coastal systems to the deep sea, and in the Great Lakes.  Proposals submitted to the Program should have a compelling ecological context and address topics that will contribute significantly to the understanding of marine ecosystems.  The scope of research topics include ecosystem processes; community and population ecology; behavioral, reproduction and life history ecology; physiological and chemical ecology; and evolutionary ecology. The Program also encourages interdisciplinary projects provided the biological research objectives focus on the ecological relevance in marine processes. Proposals may be more appropriate for programs in the Directorate for Biological Sciences if the primary focus is on organismal physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, molecular genetics, population biology, systematics, etc. and do not have an integrated ecological framework for understanding marine ecosystems.  Similarly, some ocean-focused, interdisciplinary studies may be more appropriately directed to one of the other programs in the Division of Ocean Sciences or the Office of Polar Programs.  Investigators are advised to contact a Program Officer by phone or e-mail and to browse existing award abstracts to determine the appropriate program for their proposal.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

The Biological Oceanography Program is actively involved in numerous multi-disciplinary programs that involve other NSF Programs as well as collaborative efforts with other Federal Agencies.   As Examples:

●  LTER: Long Term Ecological Research (cross-NSF)
●  GLOBEC: Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (with NOAA and NASA)
●  RIDGE 2000: (with Marine Geology and Geophysics)
●  COHH: Centers for Oceans and Human Health (Chemical Oceanography and NIEHS)
●  CAMEO: Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization (with NOAA)
●  ETBC: Emerging Topics in Biogeochemical Cycles (cross-NSF)

 

COOPERATIVE RESEARCH WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND EUROPEAN SCIENTISTS

In October of 2001 the European Commission and the National Science Foundation signed an Implementing Arrangement to foster cooperative activities in the area of environmental research between European Union and US Scientists.  This activity is under the framework of the Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the United States of America, entered into force in 1998.  The EC-NSF agreement was established to give particular attention to research on climate change, marine science and technology, seismic risk and hazards reduction, Arctic processes, and environmental biology.  Since the agreement was signed, there have been annual meetings between the EC (Directorate-General for Research: Environment Directorate) and the NSF (Division of Ocean Sciences) to identify areas of common interest and to discuss ways to facilitate collaborative efforts.  Most recently, these meetings were included in the Joint Consultative Meetings between the EC and the US Government. 

The NSF Division of Ocean Sciences is active in these meetings and has helped develop specific research directions as well as facilitate effective cooperation between the funding agencies and between scientists on both sides of the Atlantic.  The Division supports US researchers in collaborative efforts either through submissions to targeted announcements or by providing support for proposals with collaborative efforts submitted to our regular target dates.   Targeted announcements include planning for cooperative research activities and parallel calls for proposals on the ecology and oceanography of harmful algal blooms (see The EU-US Scientific Initiative on Harmful Algal Blooms, A Report from a Workshop Jointly Funded by the European Commission - Environment and Sustainable Development Programme and the U.S. National Science Foundation 5-8 September 2002 - Trieste, Italy).

More recently   EC-NSF discussions have focused on climate change, ocean acidification, and marine ecosystems of the North Atlantic (see the following series of reports available using International GLOBEC’s website.

In FY2010 and beyond we are anticipating supporting U.S. scientists engaged in collaborative environmental research with European scientists via European Commission Programs, particularly in the areas of climate effects on ocean ecosystem dynamics, carbon and geochemical cycles, ocean acidification. There may be opportunities and resources for targeted announcements in these areas (e.g., to link specifically with EC calls for proposals in their Framework Program), but we also expect that many of the successful collaborations will develop as investigator-initiated proposals submitted to our regular 15 August and February target dates.

We will periodically update this web page to provide current links to European Commission announcements and planning documents, and we will issue timely “Dear Colleague” letters to inform interested U.S. investigators about EC announcement of opportunity with suggestions about how to time submissions to the Program to align with EC review and funding schedules. Some projects may be supported as joint efforts with the Chemical Oceanography and Physical Oceanography Program within the Division of Ocean Sciences.

We also encourage cooperation with European colleagues in proposals responding to other NSF opportunities such as:  Emerging Topics in Biogeochemistry (ETBC), MultiScale Modeling (MSM),
or Environment, Society and the Economy (ESE), all of which may be appropriate avenues for funding collaborative projects.

Links providing useful background information for the European Commission, Directorate-General for Research / Environment Programme:

Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) / Cooperation with US Scientists / EPOCA / CARBOOCEAN / EUROCEANS / European Commission Marine environment research projects

COMMUNITY PLANNING

Cape Lookout National Seashore (Gayle Pugh)

The Division of Ocean Sciences and the Biological Oceanography Program encourage and support community planning efforts to identify opportunities and priorities for future research. The process may result in recommendations for emerging or continuing science directions across the discipline(s) and, in turn, these efforts may result in new funding opportunities.

Research themes highlighted currently by the Program as a result of community input and interest include:

●  The Changing pH of the Ocean
●  Long-Term Ecological Research: Sustained Observation and  Experimentation in a Strong Research Framework
●  Population Connectivity in Marine Systems
●  Ocean Ecology and the Carbon Cycle

SYNTHESIS AND TAXONOMIC PROJECTS

Synthesis Projects: Most of the current and recent synthesis science projects supported by the Division of Ocean Sciences, including the Biological Oceanography Program, are in connection with multi-disciplinary programs (e.g., as part of programs such as JGOFS and GLOBEC).  Futhermore, we encourage other synthesis projects which use existing data, information and knowledge to test innovative ideas or develop new theory relevant to ocean ecology.   Synthesis oriented projects are fully appropriate for submittal to the Biological Oceanography Program.

Taxonomic Projects:  Taxonomic expertise provides an important foundation to understanding biodiversity and ecological interactions in ocean processes.  The Biological Oceanography Program recognizes the concern that taxonomic expertise is diminishing in the ocean science community.  The Biological Oceanography Program encourages proposals to support taxonomic research efforts that are conducted in close collaboration with interdisciplinary ocean process studies.  If you are interested in submitting a proposal to for this opportunity, click on the title above to obtain specific information about proposal requirements.  

SUPPLEMENT SUPPORT

Student research activities (Joseph Pawlik)

The Biological Oceanography Program provides supplemental funding for Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experience for Teachers (RET) activities.   In addition, supplement support may also be provided in unusual circumstances where additional funding is needed to ensure adequate completion of the original scope of the awarded project.  The Program generally reserves these latter supplements for what we consider unforeseeable, emergency situations.   Before submitting a supplement request, the investigator should contact Gayle Pugh (gpugh@nsf.gov).

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU): REU supplements are designed to support active research participation by undergraduates in meaningful ways.  The Biological Oceanography Program provides two opportunities for submitting REU supplements. 

(1) New Proposals:  Investigators planning to provide REU activities to one or two students should include the REU supplement as a component of a proposed new or renewal grant.  REU supplements requested as part of a proposal should be embedded in the proposal at the time it is submitted for review as directed in solicitation NSF 05-592.  

(2) Ongoing Projects:  For REU supplements to ongoing projects, we encourage investigators to develop REU Supplement requests that propose research experiences for groups of undergraduate students in highly collaborative, inter-disciplinary science, using a multi-investigator approach that includes a mix of labs, principle investigators, post-docs, graduate students and undergraduates in the setting of an academic or research institution.  The aim is to foster more interactions in the undergraduate experience than is typical for a sole investigator project.  Unlike the REU Site proposals, these activities might involve students from a single institution.  The deadline for submitting an REU Supplement to an on-going project is 1 February of each year and you are strongly encouraged to contact the Program before submission.

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET): The RET supplement activity for OCE provides PIs with the opportunity to incorporate K-12 teacher participation into a funded research project.   In general, PIs are encouraged to include outreach programs for K-12 teachers within the broader impacts of a proposal at the time of submission.  The supplement is intended to provide opportunities for novel ideas that transpire after the project is underway. 

As indicated in the "Dear Colleague" Letter NSF 05-047: RET Supplements may be requested in one of two ways: (1) Investigators with an existing NSF research award may submit a request for supplemental funding; or (2) Proposers may include an RET Supplement activity as part of a new (or renewal) research proposal to NSF. The purpose of the RET supplement is to provide teachers with experiences that can be incorporated into learning activities that will broaden the scientific development of their K-12 students. The deadline for RET supplement proposals to the Program is 1 February of each year. The request should come at a time when there is at least 12 mos. of duration before the scheduled end of the project.