Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated with Great Lakes – Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Alaska Science Center (ASC) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to support an ongoing investigation of polar bear health. The Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation of polar bears has experienced sea ice loss leading to an increasing trend of polar bears spending time on land during summer and possibly increased exposure to disease and contaminants. These changes in behavior have the potential to mediate changes in health. The goal of this final component of ongoing work is to characterize viral diversity in polar bears. Biological samples will be made available to facilitate this work. In support of this project, ASC seeks a CESU partnership that will focus on completing this investigation. In particular, we seek a partner that has the required laboratory facilities and experience conducting research on virology and eco-epidemiology. The proposed work will help the USGS research team improve projections of the distribution and abundance of polar bears under scenarios of a changing climate. Research Objectives: The overarching objective of this agreement is to complete the final stage of work to develop a health monitoring program for the Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear subpopulation. The specific objective is to characterize the diversity of endemic and emerging viruses detected in samples collected from Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears.