Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science | 19 538

Opportunity Information: Apply for 19 538

The Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science (MSB-NES) opportunity is a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant program focused on understanding biological systems at very large spatial scales, from regional to continental. The core idea is to support projects that treat ecosystems and the biosphere as interconnected systems, using quantitative approaches to explain and predict how broad-scale ecological and biological processes work and how they change over time. The program is explicitly aimed at research that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, bringing together expertise such as ecology, biology, climatology, remote sensing, biogeochemistry, data science, modeling, and other related fields to address questions that cannot be answered with small, local studies alone.

A central theme of the program is the interaction between biosphere processes and major drivers of change, especially climate, land use, and invasive species. Competitive projects typically examine complex feedbacks and linkages, such as how climate variability influences species distributions, how land-use change alters ecosystem functioning and connectivity, or how invasive species reshape community dynamics and ecosystem services across large areas. Because the program emphasizes systems-oriented science, it is well aligned with research that integrates multiple data streams, develops or applies mechanistic or statistical models, and produces generalizable insights that can scale across landscapes or regions rather than being limited to a single site.

The opportunity strongly encourages the use of NEON, the National Ecological Observatory Network, and it makes clear that proposals featuring substantive and innovative NEON-enabled research will be prioritized for funding. In practice, "NEON-enabled" work means the project is not just loosely related to NEON, but depends on NEON in a meaningful way. That can include relying on NEON data products and long-term measurements, using NEON-collected samples, coordinating field or experimental activities at NEON sites (co-locating research so that new work can be directly linked with NEON observations), or building tools and workflows that improve how NEON data or collections are processed, analyzed, and used. The emphasis is on using NEON to ask macrosystems-scale questions, such as synthesizing patterns across many NEON sites, combining NEON observations with other large-scale datasets, or developing new analytical methods that make NEON data more powerful for continental-scale inference.

In addition to research awards, the program also supports training activities designed to help research teams carry out Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science work. This reflects the reality that macrosystems projects often require collaborative teams, shared data standards, advanced quantitative skills, and coordinated sampling and modeling. Training elements may focus on building capacity in areas like data integration, reproducible workflows, cyberinfrastructure-enabled analysis, or interdisciplinary collaboration, all with the goal of enabling groups to conduct stronger, more scalable macrosystems research.

Administratively, this is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, listed under CFDA 47.074. The funding opportunity title is "Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science" and the opportunity number is 19-538. The agency is the National Science Foundation, and the original solicitation information shows a creation date of November 27, 2018, with an original closing date of February 25, 2019. The expected number of awards is 21, and the listed award ceiling is 0, which typically indicates that a fixed maximum was not specified in the summary field and that applicants should rely on the detailed solicitation or program guidance for budget expectations and constraints. Eligibility is noted broadly as "Others" with clarification in the solicitation text, indicating that prospective applicants need to consult the official eligibility section to confirm which organizations or applicant types qualify.

Overall, the MSB-NES program is designed to push biology and ecology toward predictive, cross-scale understanding by funding interdisciplinary teams that can connect processes and patterns across large spatial extents, while leveraging NEON as a shared national platform for data, samples, and site-based infrastructure. Projects that make NEON central to the science, rather than peripheral, are positioned as the highest priority for funding under this opportunity.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.074.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 27, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 25, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 21 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 19 538

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