BII: ember: embedding molecular biology in ecosystem research in an ERA of increasing wildfire and drought

Active Cooperative Agreement Awarded Last action

Award ID
2320667
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$7,541,614

Award facts

Assistance listing
47.074 Biological Sciences
Completion date 42% complete
Funding agency
Division of Biological Infrastructure National Science Foundation
Place of performance
Moscow, ID 83844, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
Wildfire is a fundamental process in many forest ecosystems, but intensifying wildfire regimes are threatening the carbon storage capacity and ecosystem services they provide. While many tree and microbial species have evolved traits that make them resilient to and often benefit from fire, many forests are failing to recover, and we DON?T know why. Within biology, incremental advances within siloed disciplines have provided very few science-informed solutions to mitigate climate change, the primary driver behind extreme wildfire and drought events. Ember posits this problem exists because molecular and cellular processes have never been embedded in ecosystem research. Ember?S vision is to identify key traits and variables that govern how biological communities respond to and interact with stress. By uniting a team of diverse scientists with expertise spanning multiple biological disciplines, ember aims to transform our understanding of fundamental controls on forest processes. To extend its vision and reach, ember will partner with the coeur D?alene tribe and the bonneville environmental foundation to establish an indigenous innovation lab for tribal and rural students, develop a unique teacher fellows training program, and engage with citizens from across the political spectrum (including climate change skeptics). Expected outcomes of these efforts include determining thresholds for forest recovery, predicting how stress impacts the forest carbon sink, training the next generation of scientists to transcend disciplines for use-inspired solutions to climate change, and developing an effective science-communication framework to inform forest policy. By embedding molecular biology in ecosystem research, the ember institute will identify key traits and variables that govern how biological communities respond to and interact with compounding environmental stress. Ember focuses on two overarching aims: (1) identify direct physiological and evolutionary acclimation strategies of individual model microorganisms and conifer tree species to simulated fire and drought and (2) determine how these stress-response strategies influence ecological interactions among organisms (microbe-microbe and microbe-tree) that scale-up to impact ecosystem resilience and function. Beginning with controlled laboratory experiments and tractable model organisms, ember will determine how stress induces transcriptional and functional responses that impact microbial community assembly and conifer seedling physiology. Fire and drought conditions will be manipulated at an experimental field site to test how biological responses scale up to impact the forest carbon balance. Finally, ecosystem modeling will be used to test whether transcriptional and compositional signatures modulate key forest processes (e.g., photosynthesis, metabolism, mortality risk). Because evolution and plasticity are just beginning to be incorporated into ecosystem models, ember will capitalize on a tremendous and exciting opportunity to use experimental data to directly inform model development. Ultimately, these activities will help scientists unravel linkages within and among levels of organization to reveal the underlying traits that predict biological responses to increasing and compounding environmental stress. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $2,409,922
Amendment $2,462,646
Original award $2,669,046

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
Coeur D'alene Tribe BII EMBER to better understand the biological activity of bichar in order to understand its efficacy in building soil health and moisture rentention for drought… $91,704
Washington State University NSF BII Ember WSU - Embedding Molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research in an era of increasing fire and drought $397,361
Subrecipient not on record NSF BII EMBER - UC Berkeley Subaward $303,283
Cary Institute Of Ecosystem Studies, Inc. BII EMBER - determine impact of increasing fire and drought on forest structure and functional trajectories $662,090
University Of Missouri System NSF BII EMBER - U of M St. Louis - embedding Molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research in an era of increasing wildfire and drought $549,283
University Corporation For Atmospheric Research BII: EMBER: Embedding molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research in an era of increasing wildlife and drought $159,884
Bonneville Environmental Foundation BII EMBER - Climate Solutions Cohort of Clean Energy Fellows $170,454
Washington State University NSF BII Ember WSU - Embedding Molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research in an era of increasing fire and drought $146,954

Quick answers

Who received award 2320667?

2320667 was awarded to Regents Of The University Of Idaho by Division of Emerging Frontiers (National Science Foundation) on May 1, 2024.

How much is award 2320667 worth?

$7,541,614 has been obligated on 2320667.

Which agency awarded 2320667?

Division of Emerging Frontiers (National Science Foundation) awarded 2320667, with funding from Division of Biological Infrastructure (National Science Foundation).

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