Project Grant 2236526

The National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology awarded a $928,161 Project Grant to The Reed Institute under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) to resolve multi-scale ecological consequences of thermal refuges amidst climate warming. Over a five-year period ending April 2028, the grantee will document the extent and patterns of diversity associated with thermal refuges in freshwater ecosystems. Research will assess population-level costs and benefits of thermal refuges under thermal stress conditions and understand how refuges alter population persistence and dynamics in response to extreme temperature events. Findings have the potential to help identify early indicators of climate change impacts and inform estimates of extinction risk by elucidating the effect of environmental conditions at spatially relevant scales. The work represents an important step toward maintaining biodiversity amidst climate change and will be integrated into an undergraduate ecology course at the primarily undergraduate institution.