Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with USGS-Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner to help implement a national-scale effort tracking bats and coronaviruses through the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat). This work will provide an intense wildlife coronavirus surveillance effort conducted in partnership with Federal, State, Tribal, and non-governmental organization partners. Data obtained from coronavirus surveillance in bats and the environment will be used to model SARS-CoV-2 occurrence patterns and understand the role of wildlife and the environment in human COVID-19 infection dynamics. This work aims to inform risk assessments on viral transfer between human and wildlife populations and would inform actions to help prevent or minimize recurrence of outbreaks in the future.