Funding Opportunity: Environmental System Science

DE-FOA-0002584– Environmental System Science

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental System Science (ESS).

Formed by the merger of the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) programs, the ESS program’s goal is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent microbial, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. To support this goal, the program uses a systems approach to develop an integrative framework to elucidate the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial systems, which span from molecular to global scales and extend from the bedrock through the soil, rhizosphere, and vegetation to the atmosphere.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will consider applications that focus on improving the understanding and representation of ecosystems and watersheds in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of local, regional, and larger scale models. Using new measurements, field experiments, and/or more sophisticated modeling studies, research funded through this FOA will address the following Science Research Areas: (1) investigation of ecosystem and watershed responses to plant-mediated ecohydrologic processes, through their influence on biogeochemical cycling, hydrologic dynamics, and/or land-atmosphere exchange; (2) understanding the influence of wildfire and flood disturbances on hydro-biogeochemical processes and system function; and (3) the role of fungal networks in shaping ecosystem function through coordination of ecohydrological or biogeochemical response to stress, ephemeral soil resources, or transient environmental factors. All applications are required to clearly delineate an integrative, hypothesis-driven approach and describe the existing needs/gaps in state-of-the-art models.  Applicants should provide details on how the results of the proposed research will be used to improve the predictability and sophistication of integrated watershed systems and/or terrestrial ecosystem models.

• Full announcement: https://science.osti.gov/ber/Funding-Opportunities
• Current information on ESS: https://ess.science.energy.gov
• Schedule:
  The PI and anyone submitting on behalf of the PI must register for an account in PAMS before it will be possible to submit a pre-application. All PIs and those submitting pre-applications on behalf of PIs are encouraged to establish PAMS accounts as soon as possible to avoid submission delays.
  • Deadline for Pre-applications (required): November 17, 2021; 11:59 pm Eastern time
  • Deadline for Applications: February 10, 2022; 11:59 pm Eastern time