This $384,994 project grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) will support research to investigate the adaptive capacity of the leopard seal, an apex predator in the rapidly changing Southern Ocean. The international, multi-disciplinary research team at the University of Rhode Island will analyze existing and newly collected data to evaluate the leopard seal's ability to move, adapt, and change in response to a warming environment. Specifically,...
This Project Grant award of $848,602 from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) will support research to investigate fitness trade-offs associated with female-biased size dimorphism in leopard seals, a large predator in the Southern Ocean. The research aims to (1) assess differences in male and female leopard seal morphology and life history, (2) compare reproductive physiology between males and females, (3) investigate their breeding behavior and reproductive...
This National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs project grant award of $568,845 provides funding from July 15, 2021 through June 30, 2025 to support collaborative research on the role of endothelial cell activation in hypoxia tolerance of Weddell seals. The award was made under the Polar Programs federal grant program (CFDA #47.078) to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to strengthen understanding of fundamental polar region science. Specifically, the funding will allow the...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences Program (CFDA 47.050) provides $700,944 to the University of California, Santa Cruz to study biological hotspots in the open ocean and the twilight zone (200-1000 meters deep). The project uses Northern elephant seals fitted with tracking devices as "ocean explorers" to map the spatial and temporal distribution of these critical biological hotspots - areas with high primary productivity that are essential for...
The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded Hampton University a $613,265 Project Grant under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) for the period of September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2024. The grant funds research titled "Excellence in Research: From Genomics to Ecophysiology: The Adaptive Metabolic Strategy of Heterotrophic Marine Cyclobacterium Species" which will promote progress in the biological sciences by increasing...
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington received a $170,621 project grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs to conduct research on the effects of climate change on the habitat utilization, foraging ecology, and distribution of crabeater seals. This three-year collaborative research project between NSF and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) aims to strengthen understanding of how a changing climate impacts this Antarctic seal species. The...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) Project Grant in the amount of $376,582 awarded to Florida International University (FIU) will support a collaborative international research effort titled "WHALEADAPT: Adaptation of Vulnerable Subsistence-Based North Atlantic Communities to Marine Mammal Redistribution under Climate Change." The project aims to investigate the past, present, and future distribution and abundance of North Atlantic toothed...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs, under the Polar Programs federal grant program (CFDA #47.078), provides $356,975 to support research examining the genomic mechanisms controlling the slow development of the Antarctic sea urchin Sterechinus neumayeri. Over three years from September 2022 through August 2025, a team of researchers led by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will conduct laboratory experiments to identify the gene...
The National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs awarded $500,233 under a Project Grant to the Regents of the University of California, doing business as the University of California, Berkeley, to support collaborative research titled "Role of Endothelial Cell Activation in Hypoxia Tolerance of an Elite Diver, the Weddell Seal" from July 15, 2021 to June 30, 2025. The research aims to strengthen understanding of fundamental biological processes related to hypoxia tolerance in...
This $2.8 million project grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Polar Programs will fund continued research on the population dynamics of Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica from 2022 to 2027. The award supports the long-running collaborative research project between Montana State University and multiple international partners to monitor the Weddell seal population and characterize the role of immigration using mark-recapture analyses, population modeling, and genomic...