Research Opportunity Deep Dive : NSF Biodiversity on a Changing Planet (BoCP)

NSF Biodiversity on a Changing Planet (BoCP)  The BoCP program is a cross directorate and international program led by NSF that invites submission of interdisciplinary proposals addressing grand challenges in biodiversity science within the context of unprecedented environmental change, including climate change. Successful BoCP proposals will test novel hypotheses about functional biodiversity and its connections to shifting biodiversity dynamics on a changing planet, with an emphasis on integrative research into the complex intersections among climatic, geological, paleontological, and biological processes.  The BoCP program therefore encourages proposals from collaborative and diverse teams of scientists including, for example, evolutionary biologists, ecologists, paleontologists, organismal biologists, systematists, biogeographers, marine scientists, geobiologists, geochemists, critical zone scientists, hydrologists, modelers and/or climatologists.

This opportunity supports both design and implementation projects on two different tracks, design ($500,000 per project, 3 years) and implementation ($2.5M, 5 years), with an estimated total of 8-12 estimated projects per year.

NSF will also support US research expenses for international collaborations with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) of Brazil, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. Other collaborations are possible.

Examples of research areas include, but are not limited, to:

• Understanding fundamental principles related to shifting biodiversity dynamics on a changing planet. Examples include: research on speciation/diversification/extinction rates and dynamics under changing environmental conditions; the effects of phylogenetic history and relatedness on trait evolution and functional biodiversity.

• Understanding the range of interactions and feedbacks between biodiversity dynamics and functional biodiversity. Examples include: how diverse life histories, genetic architecture, and other traits influence evolutionary responses to environmental disruption; how ancient and current environmental changes lead to evolutionary and/or ecological novelty.

• Understanding how functional biodiversity change may trigger population-, species- phylogenetic- community-, and ecosystem-level responses, under changing environments. Examples include: research into integrated macroecological, macroevolutionary approaches to investigating community assembly, species coexistence, and ecosystem responses along changing environmental gradients; the relationships among trait diversity, species diversity, phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity on ecological and evolutionary timescales.

• Understanding the interconnection between ecosystem-level events and climatic and geological processes, and their relationship to functional changes in biodiversity in a changing environment. Examples include: how changes in functional biodiversity impact biophysical and biogeochemical processes, climate, and nutrient and water cycles; analyses of the paleorecord to identify environmental tipping points and associated shifts in biodiversity dynamics and functional effects.

• Conceptual and theory development pertaining to shifting biodiversity dynamics and functional biodiversity on a changing planet. Examples include: the role of emergent and non-linear properties in complex biodiversity dynamics and functional biodiversity; connections between macroecology and macroevolutionary theory and causality as they pertain to functional biodiversity.

Also of note:

• Proposals centered on Polar and/or Marine habitats must be discussed prior to submission with a Cognizant BoCP program officer for additional guidance and logistics requirements
• PIs considering BoCP research in non-U.S. locations need to be sure to partner with local scientists as full collaborators in the design and conduct of the research project and the nature of this collaborative partnership should be fully described in the project proposal.
• The BoCP program does not participate in the CAREER, RCN, and RUI/ROA programs and does not consider RAPID, EAGER, conference, or other proposals that are not externally reviewed.

Review Recently Funded Projects here.

2021 Virtual Office Hour slides are available here.

Deadline: September 5

The complete solicitation can be found here.