OpportunityTitle: Inventory Climate Sensitive Arthropod Biodiversity at Denali NP&amp;P with Citizen Scientists
Description: NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service&#8217;s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition. ABSTRACT Funding Announcement Number P16AC00705 Project Title Inventory Climate Sensitive Arthropod Biodiversity at Denali NP&amp;P with Citizen Scientists Recipient University of Alaska Museum of the North Principle Investigator / Program Manager Dr. Derek S. Sikes Curator of Insects, Associate Professor of Entomology University of Alaska Museum Total Anticipated Award Amount YR 1 $104,904 Total Anticipated by YR 4 $319,179 Cost Share None New Award or Continuation? To be filled out by Contracting Anticipated Period of Performance 1 July 2016 &#8211; 1 July 2019 Award Instrument Cooperative Task Agreement Statutory Authority 54 U.S.C. &#167;100703, Cooperative Study Units CFDA # and Title Single Source Justification Criteria Cited (4) Unique Qualifications NPS ATR Point of Contact To be filled out by Contracting OVERVIEW Arthropods are the dominant animals in most ecosystems, both in species richness and biomass. Consequently, their ecological importance is immense. 1) The terrestrial arthropod fauna of Alaska is among the least well known of any state and that of Denali NP is essentially unknown (only 80 species documented with over 1,000 expected), and 2) Alaska is experiencing greater climate change than lower latitude states, to which alpine species have shown particular sensitivity. We will address these two issues by establishing sampling transects on elevational gradients that will enable 1) quantification of the baseline arthropod fauna of Denali NP with a focus on pollinators, spiders, and beetles, and 2) a system by which future comparisons can be made, particularly for critical alpine habitats and glacial habitats most sensitive to climate change. A diversity of citizen scientists recruited from several arenas will be trained, and used to assist with all field and some lab based aspects of this project. STATEMENT OF JOINT OBJECTIVES/PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN Objective of the project include: 1) Educating the next generation of park stewards and scientists (Call to Action Goals - Connecting People to Parks 7 and Strengthening the Parks Education Mission - 20), and park staff, visitors, and citizen scientists on arthropod science is a primary goal of this project: We will use two main strategies to educate various audiences about the diversity and ecological roles of Denali&#8217;s arthropods: (1) active engagement of individuals in sampling, and (2) design and production of print and web-based media. Active engagement will include citizen scientists accompanying scientists and technicians into the backcountry for routine (bi-weekly) arthropod sampling. Citizen scientist will be recruited from local primary and secondary schools, the undergraduate community at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and thought the Murie Science and Learning Center&#8217;s field seminar program. Citizen scientist and the interested public will also have opportunities to join an annual Denali-sponsored field seminar focused on arthropod diversity and an annual mini-bioblitz focused on sampling specific groups of arthropods (e.g., pollinators, beetles, spiders) that brings in additional specialists for that taxon. Park based researchers will also conduct arthropod science activities during summer youth camps and visit local classrooms during the school year. Educational media may include fact sheets, simple print or electronic field guides, virtual tours of focal arthropods. 2) An inventory of little known biological resources will be conducted as part of this project: Arthropods represent more species than any other group of organisms but its biodiversity is the least well known. In addition to their high diversity this group provides vital ecosystem services including pollination. This project will provide the first comprehensive and systematic inventory of arthropods conducted in any Alaskan park and will likely yield many species new to science and range extension data on others. Many arthropods are sensitive to climate change; therefore, this investigation will be set-up for re-deployment in 10 years to detect changes in arthropod community structure and function. 3) Creation of a voucher collection of fully georeferenced and databased specimens in the University of Alaska Museum (UAM) and the NPS collection. Specimen and species lists will be made available for importation into NPSpecies. Creation of annotated checklist and /or other important finds will be prepared for publication. 4) Data mining and identification of backlog specimens: An effort will be made to discover arthropod records in museum collections and published descriptions from DENA. This will result in a bibliography and list of species expected in the park. Additionally, thousands of DENA specimens in UAM are incompletely identified due to lack of local taxonomic expertise. These specimens will be prioritized for refined identifications with funding made available to encourage taxonomists to help. RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT The recipient will hire and support a graduate research assistant, provide academic guidance to the student leading to the completion of an advanced degree, direct study design, project implementation, and fieldwork to meet goals, manage data and specimen collections and complete data analyses, and cooperate with the NPS to complete project objectives. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT Substantial involvement on the part of the National Park Service is required for the successful completion of the objectives to be funded by this award. In particular, the National Park Service will be responsible for the following: Assign NPS staff to dedicate effort on this project including: a NPS Biologist with experts in entomology to collaborate on this project and an NPS Biological Science Tech to help with field sampling efforts and specimen preparation and management. The NPS will provide necessary training (e.g. Bear Safety), local lab space for processing and local housing (if available). The NPS will also assist in the recruitment and hiring of a graduate student, provide mentoring, logistical support, and oversight in the field and provide input into study design and implementation and review of products. SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award. The justification must address one or more of the following criteria as well as discussion of the program legislative history, unique capabilities of the proposed recipient, and cost-sharing contribution offered by the proposed recipient, as applicable. In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria: (1) Unsolicited Proposal &#8211; The proposed award is the result of an unsolicited assistance application which represents a unique or innovative idea, method, or approach which is not the subject of a current or planned contract or assistance award, but which is deemed advantageous to the program objectives; (2) Continuation &#8211; The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity; (3) Legislative intent &#8211; The language in the applicable authorizing legislation or legislative history clearly indicates Congress&#8217; intent to restrict the award to a particular recipient of purpose; (4) Unique Qualifications &#8211; The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications; (5) Emergencies &#8211; Program/award where there is insufficient time available (due to a compelling and unusual urgency, or substantial danger to health or safety) for adequate competitive procedures to be followed. The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria: Under CESU Master Agreement P16AC00003 (4) Unique Qualifications Single Source Justification Description: Dr. Sikes at the University of Alaska Museum of the North is uniquely qualified because he has extensive experience inventorying and studying arthropod and pollinator diversity across the State of Alaska. As the Chief Curator of arthropods for the State of Alaska official repository he has conducted similar research across Alaska and is intimately familiar with Alaskan arthropod taxa.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: work
GrantorContactText: James Cato &lt;br/&gt;Contract Specialist &lt;br/&gt;Phone 907-644-3302