Application for 2008 Toyota Environmental Activities Grant

Building community research teams
to study the impact of climate change
on fungal biodiversity

Project Leader
Kevin Weick
Executive Director
The Polistes Foundation

Participating Scientists
Tom Bruns, University of California
Greg Mueller, The Field Museum
John Pickering, University of Georgia
Steve Stephenson, University of Arkansas
United States

Yousuke Degawa,
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History
Jun Matsumoto, Fukui Botanical Garden
Mitsunori Tamayama, Iwate
Japan

Tom May, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Australia

Diachea leucopodia
Photograph by Alain Michaud
Diachea leucopodia (Bull.) Rostaf.
This and other slime molds are sensitive to environmental conditions. They are easily collected and studied by community-based research teams.

Outline
We propose to establish a community-based research network to understand the impact of global climate change on the biodiversity of macrofungi (mushrooms) and fungus-like myxomycetes (slime molds). Using web technology, the proposed network will report high-quality field data on when and where these organisms fruit. Community teams will document observations with digital cameras and, in some cases, collect reference material. We will compare data from parks, schools, and other study sites to test hypotheses about how changes in weather patterns could impact biodiversity. The slime mold research will extend a worldwide inventory. We seek support from Toyota to coordinate the project, refine research protocols for schools and community teams, and give training workshops in the U.S. and Japan.
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Updated: 17 June, 2008

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Application for 2008 Toyota Environmental Activities Grant

Application form for 2008 Toyota Environmental Activities Grant

A-1a. TITLE OF THE PROJECT

Building community research teams to study the impact of climate change on fungal biodiversity

A-1b. SUB-TITLE OF THE PROJECT

None.

A-1c. GRANT THEME

__X__ Global Warming Countermeasures __X__ Biodiversity Conservation

A-2. PROJECT LEADER

  • Full Name: Kevin Weick
  • Name of Organization: The Polistes Foundation
  • Title of Position: Executive Director
  • Signature:     ____Kevin Weick____        Date:    16/07/08(dd/mm/yy)

A-3. ADDRESS TO WHICH MAIL SHOULD BE SENT

  • Full Name: Kevin Weick
  • Name of Organization: Polistes Foundation, Inc.
  • Title of Position: Executive Director
  • Address: 133 Washington Street, Belmont, MA 02478, United States
  • Phone Number: (617) 484-6428 Fax Number: (617) 484-6428
  • E-mail Address: weickkd@aol.com; pick@discoverlife.org

A-4. ORGANIZATION PROFILE

  • Name of Organization: Polistes Foundation, Inc.
  • Date of Foundation (dd/mm/yy): 07/05/02
  • Name of Representative and Position: Kevin Weick, Executive Director
  • Background and Purpose of Organization: Non Profit 501 C(3) Organization
    Primary Purpose - Our mission is to assemble and share knowledge in order to improve education, health, agriculture, economic development, and conservation throughout the world.

  • Address: 133 Washington Street, Belmont, MA 02478, United States
  • Phone Number: (617) 484-6428
  • Fax Number: (617) 484-6428
  • E-mail Address: weickkd@aol.com

  • URL of Organization's Website: http://www.discoverlife.org
  • Total Project Cost per Year: $78,750
  • Number of Secretariat: (617) 484-6428

A-5. PROPOSED PROJECT PERIOD

  • Total:__3__(years)
  • From:January, 2009 thru:December, 2011

A-6. AMOUNT REQUESTED

  • Total Amount: $226,250
  • 1st year:US$78,750    2nd year:US$78,750    3rd year:US$78,750

A-7. PROJECT ACTIVITIES

  • Environmental educational activities and experience-based learning___X___
  • Development of environmental educational programs/materials ___X___
  • Creation of "nature schools" and designing of field sites for environmental education_______
  • Localization of experiment-based environmental technologies at the community level_______
  • Other: please specify:______________________

A-8. OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT

We propose to establish a community-based research network to understand the impact of global climate change on the biodiversity of macrofungi (mushrooms) and fungus-like myxomycetes (slime molds). Using web technology, the proposed network will report high-quality field data on when and where these organisms fruit. Community teams will document observations with digital cameras and, in some cases, collect reference material. We will compare data from parks, schools, and other study sites to test hypotheses about how changes in weather patterns could impact biodiversity. The slime mold research will extend a worldwide inventory. We seek support from Toyota to coordinate the project, refine research protocols for schools and community teams, and give training workshops in the U.S. and Japan.

B-1. GOALS OF THE PROJECT

Understanding and managing the impact of global climate change and other environmental changes on biological systems is a mammoth task. It is impossible to conduct randomized, replicated experiments to study the impact of droughts, heat waves, and other massive perturbations on the abundance and distribution of particular species. Fortunately, because of recent advances in technology and statistics, it is now feasible to collect and integrate information from a large number of study sites, tease out the response of populations to natural events, and gain an understanding of their environmental requirements and interactions.

B-2. CONTENTS OF THE PROJECT

We seek funds for the first phase of a long-term project. Our objectives are to develop research protocols and an efficient, self-sustaining means for training and maintaining community research teams. Our initial goal is to generate data from national parks; ultimately, we plan to expand to study sites elsewhere. In 2009, we propose to field four research teams in the U.S. and one in Japan. These teams will refine and test research protocols for mushrooms and slime molds. Each will work with a host park and be directed by a professional scientist. Teams will include school teachers and students, along with a National Park Service interpreter and other interested individuals. Each will recruit from under-represented minority groups and include multilingual individuals. Thus, they will interact with a wide range of ages and be ethnically and culturally diverse.

The project's concept has been tested successfully in similar projects targeting ants, ladybugs, pollinators, and invasive plants. The U.S. National Science Foundation recently awarded a large educational grant to our ladybug team led by John Losey. Australia's Fungimap project (http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimap_), which involves over 700 volunteers, monitors both mushrooms and slime molds.

Our teams will develop on-line local identification guides that are specific to their region (e. g., for a mushrooms guide see http://mushroom.uark.edu and, for slime molds, http://slimemold.uark.edu). We will test and refine guides so that elementary school children, their parents, and other general park visitors can identify species correctly after a training session that teaches them identification characters and how to use the web. For taxa that are difficult to identify correctly, our research protocols will leave identification to experts. Digital images will be part of each data record and used in quality control. Students will learn through collecting, photography, mapping, and other research activities. Participants will use the web infra-structure on Discover Life, which is constantly refined through user contributions and feedback.

Research teams will select a representative group of "target" species that include members of the various ecological groups, such as ectomycorrhizal species, litter-decomposing species, and wood-decomposing mushrooms. Some team members are already well along in building identification guides and developing a protocol that can be used by volunteers. For example, Stephenson's group has developed http://slimemold.uark.edu, which provides extensive educational materials on slime molds. Once funded, after a planning meeting and three months preparation, we will recruit, give regional training workshops, and field community teams, the first of which should be in place by fall, 2009.

We have identified over 20 National Parks across the U.S. as initial study sites, many of which are already involved in Stephenson's slime mold inventory. In Japan, Hachimantai National Park will be our first study site. Mark DePoy at Buffalo National River, Arkansas, has offered his park as a study site and for hosting our initial meeting of key participants. This meeting will enable us to discuss all aspects of the project, to learn from Tom May, coordinator of Fungimap, and to plan the first training workshops for community volunteers. Our scientists will give the first training workshops; eventually, as the network expands, National Park Service interpreters and experienced volunteers will give them. Workshop participants will gain hands-on experience with Discover Life's identification, database and image management tools, acquire skills needed to work with mushrooms and slime molds, and learn techniques to produce high-quality, diagnostic images of our target organisms.

Some places have surprisingly active amateur mushroom groups. In California's Bay Area, these include the Mycological Society of San Francisco (http://www.mssf.org), the Bay Area Mycological Society Bay Area Mycological Society, the Sonoma County Mycological Association (http://www.bayareamushrooms.org) and the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz (http://www.fungusfed.org). It is not unusual for mushroom forays here to attract over a 100 individuals, giving an idea of the size of our initial target audience. Participants are often highly trained in mushroom identification and excellent photographers. They may run web sites with thousands of images, such as Mike Wood's Mykoweb (http://www.mykoweb.com) and Nathan Wilson's Mushroom Observer (http://mushroomobserver.org). Such sites and others are valuable resources that we hope to incorporate into our project.

B-3. EXPECTED OUTCOME

Following the same basic approach used by Fungimap and using Discover Life's state-of-the-art software to construct identification guides, manage images and data, and produce high-speed maps, community teams should be self-sustaining and each generate thousands of occurrence records each year.

By the end of year-3, we anticipate that at least 500 volunteers will be active and that we will have a network of over 50 study sites. We will have produced a web-interactive identification guide specific for each major geographical region (e.g., western U.S.) containing one or more study sites. Discover Life will serve the database consisting of many thousands of records, most supported by images. We will also have a full set of training and research protocols in multiple languages on-line to aid in expansion of the network around the world. These will enable schools to join the network.

We will have trained numerous National Park Service interpreters and other participants who could serve as leaders in the establishment of additional study sites. Thus, everything required to increase the size of the project by several magnitudes will be in place. By the end of year-3, we will have the baseline of data needed to assess distribution patterns over large areas and examine year-to-year fluctuations for particular species based on regional weather patterns. The galleries of images will capture the morphological variation that exists for particular species. All data will be readily available to both the scientific community and general public through Discover Life.

B-4. COMPOSITION OF THE PROJECT TEAM

C. PROJECT SCHEDULE

YEAR/MONTH
Phase of Project
2009. 1-3 Planning meeting in U.S.; assembling existing images & data
4-6 Protocol development; guide building
7-9 Training workshops: US:AR,CA,GA,IL & Japan
10-12 Field 5 volunteer teams
2010. 1-3 Evaluating success; modifying protocols
4-6 Guide building; Data collection by 5 volunteer teams
7-9 1st annual meeting; finalize protocols
10-12 Training workshops; add 10 volunteer teams
2011. 1-3 Data quality analysis; guide building
4-6 Data collection; lesson plan development
7-9 2nd annual meeting; training workshops; add 20 volunteer teams
10-12 Lesson plan testing; training workshops; add 20 volunteer teams

D-1a. BREAKDOWN OF BUDGET

Description Amount Requested
  YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 SUBTOTAL
Personnel Expenses $40,000 $40,000 $40,000 $120,000
Transportation and
Travel Expenses
$20,000 $20,000 $20,000 $50,000
Fees for Commissioned Work
Supplies and Equipment
Meetings $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 $45,000
Rental
Photocopy and Printing
Postage, Phone, Fax
Other Expenses $3,750 $3,750 $3,750 $11,250
Total $78,750 $78,750 $78,750 US$226,250

D-1b. EFFORTS TO MAXIMIZE COST-EFFECTIVENESS

We will achieve considerable cost saving by piggy-backing this proposal on existing projects. The Polistes Foundation and our partners will cover all costs of the technology, databasing, and web services from Discover Life. Most notably, the project will benefit from a similar NSF project, "Learning lessons from ladybugs: have you spotted me?" and our cooperative agreement with NBII. We seek $20,000/year for Stephenson to coordinate the project and $20,000/year for support at Discover Life to build guides and provide technical help to participants. We request a total of $35,000/year for travel/meetings associated with coordinating the project and giving at least 5 training workshops a year. "Other Expenses" are Polistes Foundation's 5% overhead for fiduciary services.

D-2. BREAKDOWN OF THE BUDGET: YEAR 1

Description Itemize Amt Requested
Personnel Expenses


Steve Stephenson
    Research Scientist/Coordinator
Technical Support
    Electronic Guides, Web Integration, MIS Services
$20,000

$20,000

Transportation and
Travel Expenses
Transport - Research Team Members $20,000
Fees for Commissioned Work
Supplies and Equipment
Meetings Reasearch Team Members, Workshop participants, training $15,000
Rental
Photocopy and Printing
Postage, Phone, Fax
Other Expenses Program Admin. Support $3,750
Total $78,750

D-3. BREAKDOWN OF THE BUDGET: YEAR 2

Description Itemize Amt Requested
Personnel Expenses


Steve Stephenson
    Research Scientist/Coordinator
Technical Support
    Electronic Guides, Web Integration, MIS Services
$20,000

$20,000

Transportation and
Travel Expenses
Transport - Research Team Members $20,000
Fees for Commissioned Work
Supplies and Equipment
Meetings Reasearch Team Members, Workshop participants, training $15,000
Rental
Photocopy and Printing
Postage, Phone, Fax
Other Expenses Program Admin. Support $3,750
Total $78,750

D-4. BREAKDOWN OF THE BUDGET: YEAR 3

Description Itemize Amt Requested
Personnel Expenses

Steve Stephenson
    Research Scientist/Coordinator
Technical Support
    Electronic Guides, Web Integration, MIS Services
$20,000

$20,000

Transportation and
Travel Expenses
Transport - Research Team Members $20,000
Fees for Commissioned Work
Supplies and Equipment
Meetings Reasearch Team Members, Workshop participants, training $15,000
Rental
Photocopy and Printing
Postage, Phone, Fax
Other Expenses Program Admin. Support $3,750
Total $78,750

E-1. TERMS AND CONDITION

  1. FULLY AGREE ON THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN THE INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

    • Yes.

  2. PARTLY AGREE ON THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN THE INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS PROVIDE FURTHER EXPLANATION ON UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS

E-2. SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON THIS GRANT PROGRAM

  1. NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE:
  2. TOYOTA WEBSITE:
  3. TOYOTA FOUNDATION WEBSITE:
  4. OTHER WEBSITE:
  5. MAILING LISTS:
  6. OTHERS: Personal email from program officer at U.S. NBII.

E-3. WHICH INFORMATION SOURCES DO YOU USUALLY REFER TO WHEN SEEKING FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES?

  1. NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE:
  2. WEBSITE:
  3. MAILING LISTS:
  4. OTHERS: Personal contacts

E-4. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE APPLICATION PROCEDURES, GRANT-MAKING AREAS, SELECTION CRITERIA AND THE PROGRAM SECRETARIAT.

  • Please allow electronic submission of proposals in addition to hard-copy.

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