Organismal Response to Climate Change | 23 622

Opportunity Information: Apply for 23 622

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funding opportunity "Organismal Response to Climate Change" (ORCC; Funding Opportunity Number 23-622) supports research that explains, in a mechanistic way, how living organisms respond to rapid climate-driven environmental change, and then connects those organism-level mechanisms to broader ecological and evolutionary outcomes. The program is motivated by the reality that climate change is already reshaping conditions across essentially all biomes, with cascading effects on individual growth, reproduction, survival, and fitness, as well as on species ranges, community structure, ecosystem function, agricultural productivity, and the dynamics of pests and pathogens. Because these biological shifts directly affect major societal priorities such as the US bioeconomy, food security, and ecosystem services, the solicitation emphasizes research that can strengthen our ability to anticipate impacts and reduce harmful, maladaptive outcomes as climates continue to shift.

A central point of the ORCC solicitation is that many past climate change studies have either focused on large-scale ecological patterns without fully addressing the underlying organismal biology, or have examined organismal physiology and genetics without firmly linking those findings to eco-evolutionary consequences in nature. ORCC is intended to bridge that gap. NSF is looking for proposals that integrate organismal mechanisms (for example, physiological tolerances, developmental pathways, molecular and genomic responses, and plasticity) with eco-evolutionary approaches that explain how traits shape fitness, how populations and species respond over time, and how these responses scale up to affect distributions, interactions, and resilience. In practice, that means projects should connect "how the organism works under climate stress" to "what that implies for populations, communities, and future outcomes under continued change."

The solicitation highlights several example research directions. These include incorporating physiology and genomics into next-generation species distribution models so forecasts are built on biological limits rather than correlations alone; identifying the mechanistic basis of phenotypic plasticity in response to climate factors; applying functional genomics to understand how climate-relevant traits are regulated and expressed; examining how climate change alters biological interactions such as competition, predation, mutualisms, host-pathogen relationships, and symbioses; investigating how those interactions feed back to shape organismal responses; and improving predictions of the limits of biological resilience, including where adaptation or plasticity may be insufficient under novel or extreme future conditions. The common thread is integration: the program is not simply asking whether organisms shift ranges or change phenology, but why they can or cannot do so, and what the downstream consequences will be.

NSF also signals that it wants convergence-style, cross-disciplinary projects that intentionally connect fields that are often separated, such as physiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, genomics, modeling, and environmental science. Competitive proposals are expected to address adaptive and maladaptive responses to climate-related environmental factors, show how those responses translate into fitness differences in changing and/or novel climates, and examine the genetic and evolutionary processes through which climate-relevant traits arise, persist, and are transmitted across generations. In other words, the program prioritizes work that can explain both immediate responses (including plasticity) and longer-term trajectories (including evolutionary change), while keeping the research grounded in mechanism.

Another distinctive feature of ORCC is its expectation for use-inspired outcomes built on foundational science. The solicitation encourages investigators to think beyond discovery alone and describe how results could be used to help anticipate and manage climate impacts across spatial and temporal scales and across levels of biological organization, from genes and organisms to populations and ecosystems. These applications could take many forms depending on the system, such as improving ecological forecasting tools, informing conservation or management decisions, strengthening risk assessment for disease or pest outbreaks, or supporting climate resilience strategies for natural or managed systems. The key is that proposals should articulate a credible pathway from mechanistic insight to practical value in addressing societal challenges tied to climate change.

The program is also explicit about fit and submission expectations. Proposals are not considered appropriate for this solicitation if they do not genuinely bridge disciplines, if they lack a clear focus on mechanisms of organismal response to climate change, if they fail to connect mechanistic findings to eco-evolutionary consequences beyond the individual level, or if they do not include a plan for use-inspired applications of the foundational research. Projects that do not meet these integration requirements are expected to be directed instead to core or special programs in relevant NSF units such as IOS, OCE, or DEB. NSF encourages prospective applicants to contact a cognizant program officer if there is uncertainty about whether a planned project fits ORCC.

Administratively, ORCC is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, with CFDA numbers 47.050 and 47.074. The opportunity was created on September 19, 2023, and listed an original closing date of December 13, 2023. NSF anticipated making around 14 awards, and the award ceiling is listed as 0, which typically indicates that applicants should consult the solicitation text and NSF guidance for budget expectations rather than relying on a fixed maximum. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with clarification provided in the solicitation's eligibility section. Overall, ORCC is positioned for teams or investigators who can tightly connect organismal biology to eco-evolutionary theory and prediction, and who can translate mechanistic understanding into tools or insights that help society respond to climate-driven biological change.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Organismal Response to Climate Change" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.050, 47.074.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 19, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 13, 2023. (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 14 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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