Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with USGS- Hawaii-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G24AS00371

Opportunity Information: Apply for G24AS00371

This funding opportunity (G24AS00371) is a US Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary cooperative agreement offered through the Hawaii-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program (CFDA 15.808). It is specifically limited to eligible applicants that are already formal partners in the Hawaii-Pacific Islands CESU, reflecting the CESU model of leveraging established research partnerships to deliver applied science, technical support, and education tied to agency priorities.

The project focus is on evaluating the effectiveness of the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) as a mosquito suppression strategy in Hawaii, with the broader conservation goal of interrupting the avian malaria transmission cycle that threatens native Hawaiian forest birds. IIT is being tested as a tool to reduce populations of the Southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, which is a key vector for avian malaria in the islands. The work is aimed at measuring not just whether mosquito numbers go down, but whether disease pressure on birds is likely to decline as a result, particularly within high-value forest bird habitats where conservation outcomes are most critical.

A central deliverable for the CESU partner is the development of statistical models that combine multiple lines of field and laboratory evidence. These models are expected to integrate mosquito capture rates (as an indicator of mosquito abundance and suppression impact) with pathogen data showing the prevalence of Plasmodium relictum in sampled mosquitoes (as an indicator of infection pressure and transmission risk). By linking mosquito abundance trends with infection prevalence, the modeling effort is meant to characterize IIT efficacy in a way that is directly relevant to disease ecology and to management decisions, rather than relying on a single metric.

The opportunity also includes a laboratory methods development component intended to improve how avian malaria prevalence is measured at scale. The partner will develop a high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach to quantify avian malaria prevalence and then evaluate whether results from that approach align with established quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays. In practice, this means building and validating a workflow that can process large numbers of samples efficiently while still producing prevalence estimates that are reliable and comparable to the current standard method. If successful, this could expand monitoring capacity and improve the speed and depth of surveillance used to evaluate mosquito-control outcomes and disease dynamics.

Administratively, the award is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically signals substantial involvement by the federal agency during the life of the project (for example, coordination on study design, data integration, or interpretation in an applied management context). The opportunity was created on May 21, 2024, and the original application closing date is June 21, 2024. The listed award ceiling is $71,335. The posting indicates an expected awards field but does not provide a specific number in the source text provided. Overall, the grant is designed to support a CESU partner in producing decision-relevant analytics and improved disease-detection methods that help determine whether IIT is a viable strategy for reducing mosquito-driven avian malaria risk to Hawaii's forest birds.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with USGS- Hawaii-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-05-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-21. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $71,335.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G24AS00371

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