Changing Tides – Bivalve Bioassay and Analysis Component
NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Serviceâ₏™s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition. ABSTRACT Funding Announcement Number P15AS00797 Project Title Changing Tides â₏“ Bivalve Bioassay and Analysis Component Recipient Alaska SeaLife Center Principle Investigator / Program Manager Tuula Hollmen Principal Investigator Total Anticipated Award Amount $130,000.00 Cost Share None New Award or Continuation? New Anticipated Period of Performance 07/20/2015 through 09/30/2018 Award Instrument Task Agreement Statutory Authority 54 USC 101702(a) CFDA # and Title 15.945, Changing Tides â₏“ Bivalve Bioassay and Analysis Component Single Source Justification Criteria Cited (4) Unique Qualifications NPS ATR Point of Contact Erica Cordeiro OVERVIEW This project is a critical component of a larger project, â₏œChanging Tides,â₏ which seeks to identify causal relationships between marine intertidal invertebrate (MII) health, visitor use, and brown bear physiology. â₏œChanging Tidesâ₏ will increase understanding of how anthropogenic stressors may affect both marine intertidal invertebrates (MII) and bear population persistence at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This project will examine the development of a monitoring tool that uses bioassays to link changing ocean conditions directly to food web dynamics. This will make a significant contribution to the scientific understanding of coastal ecosystems. This project is to complete bioassay analyses and assess select bivalve speciesâ₏™ response to environmental perturbations. These measurements will allow comparison of the health of the clam or mussel populations at different sites, assess their responses and sensitivity to environmental stressors (changes in temperature, pH, contaminant levels), and their energetic value as bear prey. STATEMENT OF JOINT OBJECTIVES/PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN The public purpose for this agreement is to fund a University of Alaska, Fairbanks post-doctoral fellow stationed at the Alaska SeaLife Center, researching the suitability of clams, mussels and other marine invertebrates to serve as indicators of ecological condition. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a Land, Sea and Space Grant university and an international center for research, education, and the arts. UAF lists as one of their core themes "Research: To create and disseminate new knowledge, insight, technology, artistic and scholarly works." The Alaska SeaLife Center's mission is to generate scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska's marine ecosystems. This project assists both the UAF and the ASLC in accomplishing their missions. The bivalve populations that will be sampled in this project are part of the nearshore food web in the marine system that begins with kelps and algaes and culminates in feeding higher trophic level vertebrates such as bears, sea otters, sea duck, shorebirds and other fauna. It is a collaboration between the Alaska SeaLife Center, USGS, Washington State University and the National Park Service. The techniques developed from the work at the Alaska SeaLife Center will be used in the larger â₏œChanging Tidesâ₏ project. Finally, this research is supporting the efforts of the GulfWatch Alaska program, a multi-agency group responsible for the long term monitoring of resources affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. GulfWatch Alaska includes several federal and state agencies including NPS, as well as universities. A final report, several peer reviewed journal articles and an Alaska Park Science article will be produced collaboratively that focus on the importance and vulnerability of intertidal invertebrates, way intertidal invertebrates should be monitored and make recommendations for the timing and distribution of bear viewing and clam harvesting activities. RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT Alaska SeaLife Center will provide expertise in the field of bioassay analyses and aquaculture methods; provide all lab analyses and interpretation of results from results; participate in field collections both for specimens for analysis as well as for documenting species distribution and composition; and assign a post-doc to assist in sample collection, processing, data analysis and interpretation. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT Substantial involvement on the part of the National Park Service is anticipated for the successful completion of the objectives to be funded by this award. In particular, the National Park Service will be responsible for the following: The National Park Service will with ASLC on all aspects of this project related to marine intertidal invertebrates; provide funding for ASLC to purchase necessary sampling equipment for field collections and lab supplies; and provide funding to complete the analyses of samples collected. SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award. The justification must address one or more of the following criteria as well as discussion of the program legislative history, unique capabilities of the proposed recipient, and cost-sharing contribution offered by the proposed recipient, as applicable. In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria: (1) Unsolicited Proposal â₏“ The proposed award is the result of an unsolicited assistance application which represents a unique or innovative idea, method, or approach which is not the subject of a current or planned contract or assistance award, but which is deemed advantageous to the program objectives; (2) Continuation â₏“ The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity; (3) Legislative intent â₏“ The language in the applicable authorizing legislation or legislative history clearly indicates Congressâ₏™ intent to restrict the award to a particular recipient of purpose; (4) Unique Qualifications â₏“ The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications; (5) Emergencies â₏“ Program/award where there is insufficient time available (due to a compelling and unusual urgency, or substantial danger to health or safety) for adequate competitive procedures to be followed. The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria: (4) Unique Qualifications Single Source Justification Description: An integral component of the Changing Tides project is a monitoring tool that uses bioassays to link changing ocean conditions directly to food web dynamics. This will make a significant contribution to the scientific understanding and management decision-making within coastal National Parks. The ASLC developed the techniques for bioassays that will be used in this project. No one else has used these techniques. This work is new and unique. The previous work is not fully published and other researchers would lag significantly behind the progress ASLC has made in this field. The techniques to be used were developed expressly for this project in the funded project "Transport conditions and care of razor clams for environmental condition assessment," agreement P14AC01034. In addition, the same personnel that developed these techniques will be performing the work in this project. This is critical because the continuity of expertise specific to bioassays of mussel and bivalve species of the area is essential to credible data analysis and interpretation of the results in this project. In addition, the specimens necessary to conduct bioassay work must be transported and arrive alive at the facility where the tests will be conducted. The ASLC is more accessible than most other facilities because specimens can be driven straight from Homer to the ASLC in a few hours. Institutions farther afield increase the risk that the specimens will die in transport. Therefore the ASLC is uniquely qualified to conduct the work.
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