Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization (CAMEO) Prospectus
Colleagues,
One of the near-term priorities identified in the recently published Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Plan (http://ocean.ceq.gov/about/docs/orppfinal.pdf) is the Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization, or CAMEO. The program (as outlined in the attached prospectus) is intended to help provide critical decision support tools that will better enable ecosystem approaches to ocean and coastal ecosystem management. Comparative analysis of ecosystems across various scales and time frames is a potentially powerful way to uncover how ecosystems respond to a wide variety of human stressors and management actions taken to mitigate their impacts. Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying ecosystem response will translate into better predictive tools and quantitative analyses of management options for complex multi-use ecosystems.
Shortly, the National Science Foundation, Biological Oceanography Program, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service will jointly publish a request for proposals and Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) for CAMEO. The FFO will solicit proposals for initial activities. These are intended to lead to several longer-term regional efforts coordinated through ongoing CAMEO program activities.
It is important that the ocean science community responds quickly to this opportunity with tangible results while at the same time fostering comparative and integrative analyses of marine ecosystems in the long-term. It is envisioned that the initial response to the FFO might consist of the following:
· Development of strategies and methodologies for comparative analyses, including modeling frameworks that can be applied consistently across ecosystems, and that facilitate design of decision support tools. This might be accomplished through individual research projects and/or workshops.
· Modeling studies focused on specific concepts, such as connectivity, resilience or thresholds. The intent of such studies should be to unify comparative analyses and to generalize some of the key scientific questions to be addressed by comparative analyses.
· Retrospective studies that analyze or re-analyze or synthesize existing information (historic, time-series, ongoing programs, etc.) using a comparative approach.
* Short-term empirical studies based around existing or proposed
observation systems designed to “demonstrate” how such a system
could be leveraged towards ongoing comparisons. Such studies might
utilize marine protected areas which are contained within coastal
observation systems.
* Short-term (a year or less) pilot projects to allow groups of
investigators to organize and design larger programs. These pilot
efforts can be evaluated for their potential to scale up into
larger programs with further design, and organization. It is
expected that results will be publishable in peer-reviewed literature.
A key aspect of these proposals is the emphasis on collaborative partnerships between the academic and private research communities and federal agency scientists with mission responsibilities to inform ecosystem management activities. Collaborative proposals among these groups will be given priority in the FFO. Researchers proposing CAMEO activities will have 90 days from the publication date to submit their proposals through grants.gov. It is critical that the community of ecosystem researchers interested in CAMEO immediately begin to discuss and develop outstanding proposals. Federal agencies will seek additional CAMEO funding for FY-09 and beyond, and setting a strong foundation through initial CAMEO activities will be critical to justifying out-year funding.
Questions or comments regarding CAMEO activities can be directed to:
NSF: Phil Taylor (prtaylor@nsf.gov <mailto:prtaylor@nsf.gov>) or Cynthia Suchman (csuchman@nsf.gov)
NOAA/NMFS: Mike Ford (Michael.Ford@noaa.gov <mailto:Michael.Ford@noaa.gov>) or Steve Murawski (Steve.Murawski@noaa.gov <mailto:Steve.Murawski@noaa.gov>)
Visit the CAMEO web site at: http://cameo.noaa.gov <http://cameo.noaa.gov/>
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