vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/600/9-90/007
February 1990
Request for Applications
BIO-01-90
Identification and Evaluation of
Endpoints and Indicators of
Ecosystem Health
Background
The Ecosystems and their component organisms are
continually exposed to stresses, both natural and
anthropogenic. One task of EPA is to determine whether
systems are sufficiently stressed by anthropogenic agents to
cause damage. Problems to be addressed by scientists are the
difficulty in detecting stress and to identify the causative
stressors. These problems are particularly acute because of
the interactive nature of stress, in which multiple anthropogenic
factors act in an integrated manner with multiple natural
stressors.
The following is presented as a conceptual basis for a
research program to address these problems. Organisms
exposed to stress undergo a predictable sequence of changes
in response to stress. At low to moderate levels of stress,
behavioral responses (avoidance), acclimation (physiological
response) and compensation occur. Acclimation and
compensation allow organisms to continue functioning while
exposed to a stressor, but growth and allocation costs are
incurred. At some level of stress, adaptation (genetic response)
occurs. When the stress exceeds the ability of organisms to
acclimate, or exceeds the ability of populations to adapt,
damage occurs. Each of these processes produces
measurable changes in ecosystems, populations, and organism
states and processes. Detection of acclimation or
compensation could serve as an early warning, which would
trigger more intensive monitoring of a system. These changes
may or may not result in degradation, but they may provide
information about causal factors.
The development of new tools and criteria for detecting
stress and determining the cause(s) would enhance the ability
of EPA to assess the impacts of anthropogenic stress, and
would play a particularly important role in early detection of
ecosystem change due to stress.
Scope
The purpose of this Request for Application (RFA) is to
promote research on identifying and evaluating biological
endpoints and indicators of ecosystem health and stress
response. An endpoint is defined as that component or
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characteristic of an ecological system that humans care about.
It may be at a species level (e.g., endangered species,
economically important species, nuisance species), a
community level (e.g., species diversity or richness), at an
ecosystem level (e.g., nutrient cycling, production). Changes in
the state or trends of one or more ecological endpoints would
constitute a change in the ecological system (which separately
is evaluated with respect to the social importance or
acceptability of the change).
An indicator, on the other hand, is a specific organism or
measures (proteins, macromolecule) that characterizes that
endpoint, either directly (e.g , the population level of an
endpoint species) or indirectly (e.g., coliform count as an
indicator of water contamination). Ecological research is
needed to identify the types of endpoints that are appropriate
for different ecosystems and the particular types of indicators
most appropriate for characterizing endpoints. Of particular
importance are those biological indicators and endpoints which
can distinguish between anthropogenic and natural
disturbances.
For the purposes of this RFA, the focus should be limited to
biological indicators applicable to freshwater and estaurine
ecosystems including water column and sediment organisms
at all trophic levels including surface microlayers. Topics of
interest include, but are not restricted to, identifying
bioindicators of anthropogenic stresses, determining specificity
and sensitivity of endpoint bioindicators, and developing
approaches for using multiple bioindicators. Of interest also are
macromolecule and microbial plasmids that may be used to
characterize the state of an ecosystem.
Mechanism of Support
Assistance under this RFA will be provided by a research
grant, administered through EPA's investigator-initiated
research grants program. The applicant will be responsible for
the planning, direction and execution of the proposed research.
Support under this program is limited to non-profit
organizations and educational institutions.
Approximately 1.0 million dollars will be available from fiscal
1990 funds and it is estimated that 4 to 6 projects will be
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supported for a period of two years each. This RFA is for a
single competition with a deadline of April 17,1990.
The Application
Each application will consist of Application for Federal
Assistance forms (standard forms 424 and 424A), separate
sheets providing the budget breakdown for each year of the
project, curriculum vitae for the principal investigator, abstract
of the proposed project, and a project narrative. All certification
(drug free work-place, etc.) forms must be signed and included
with the application. Attachments, appendices or other
materials included in addition to those identified above will not
be forwarded to the reviewers. Application forms, instructions,
and other pertinent information are contained in the Federal
grant application kit obtainable from:
Research Grants Staff (RD-675)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20460
or by calling (202) 382-7445.
Special Instructions
1. Project narrative or proposal must not exceed 30 single
sided 8-1/2 by 11 inch pages. Typeface must be standard
10-12 characters per inch.
2. CVs or resumes must not exceed 2 pages for each principal
investigator and should focus on education, positions held
and most recent or related publications.
3 Project period should not exceed two years.
4. Aplication in response to this RFA must be identified by
printing "RFA BIO-01-90 in the upper right hand corner of
the EPA assistance applications form." The absence of this
identifier from an application absolves EPA of any
responsibility if it is not reviewed along with the other
applications responding to this RFA.
Application Review
All applications in response to this solicitation will be
reviewed at a single meeting of a scientific peer panel which
will evaluate and rank each proposal according to its scientific
merit as a basis for recommending agency approval or
disapproval. The panel will consider:
"quality of research plan (including theoretical and/or
experimental design, originality, and creativity),
qualifications of the research team,
'availability and adequacy of facilities and equipment, and
"appropriateness of the proposed budget.
Application Submission
The original and eight copies of the application must be
received no later than the close of business, April 17, 1990, to
be considered. The applications must be sent to:
Grants Operations Branch (PM-216F)
Grants Administration Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20460
Staff Contact
Questions relating to this solicitation may be directed to
Clyde Bishop by telephone on (202) 382-7445.
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/600/9-90/007
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