OpportunityTitle: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Californian CESU
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.  CESUs are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education.  Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.
Description: The USGS, Western Ecological Research Center is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research on the interactions of mountain gartersnakes (Thamnophis elegans elegans) with mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana sierrae and R. muscosa) to better understand this predator-prey system and ameliorate the threat resident mountain gartersnakes pose to reintroduced populations of mountain yellow-legged frogs. Mountain yellow-legged frogs have declined with the introduction of trout to historically fishless alpine lakes and the emergence of the lethal fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and have therefore been federally listed as Endangered. Translocation and reintroduction have been identified as important components of recovery for mountain yellow-legged frogs, but some translocation and reintroduction efforts have failed in part because of predation by mountain gartersnakes on reintroduced frogs. It is therefore imperative to understand causes of reintroduction success and failure, and to develop translocation protocols that increase the likelihood of successful translocation. This funding opportunity is to provide expertise and logistical support for surveys for mountain yellow-legged frogs, surveys for and experimental translocations of mountain gartersnakes, and assistance with data analysis and report and manuscript preparation.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Contract Specialist
GrantorContactText: Faith Graves 703-648-7356&lt;br/&gt;fgraves@usgs.gov&lt;br/&gt;