The overall objective of this Statement of Need (SON) is to strengthen the scientific underpinnings of habitat-based conservation strategies designed to support conservation and management of multiple species of concern, particularly threatened and endangered (T&E) and at-risk species. Habitat-based conservation uses habitat properties or species surrogates to represent a suite of species in a particular ecosystem or habitat type, enabling the design of conservation programs that sustain viable populations of multiple species in a management unit, as opposed to single species approaches. This SON encourages fundamental and applied research needed to identify relationships between management and conservation of habitats and population status of species of concern, and the conditions that must exist for habitat-based approaches to succeed. Specific objectives include the following:

• Assess the strength of causal links between population status and trajectories and proposed ecosystem-level indicators (e.g., habitat descriptors, surrogate or umbrella species, conservation corridors).
• Understand the degree of similarity in processes underlying population changes for various species of concern within a habitat.
• Test the strength, and assess the underlying mechanisms, of correlations of different ecosystem performance indicators across multiple species in different settings or at different times.
• Understand how suites of species of concern respond to different habitat treatment options, including potential unintended effects.
• Determine the minimum or appropriate size or scale of the area for which a habitat-based approach will be effective for particular suites of species of concern, as opposed to single species approaches.
• Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of habitat-based conservation and management approaches for suites of species of concern, including differential success for individual species.
• Evaluate conservation outcomes for rare plant taxa under habitat-based approaches designed around wildlife.

Proposals may synthesize existing studies across habitat types and species, develop modeling strategies to establish causal links or explore response of habitats and species to different conservation treatments, or conduct in-depth case studies on specific installations. Proposals should include justification for the importance of the selected species/habitats to the Department of Defense (DoD) and broader biodiversity conservation objectives.

Habitat-based approaches to species conservation offer potential cost and management efficiencies and other benefits as opposed to species-by-species approaches, and hence are promising for widespread application at DoD installations. This research will improve understanding of how effective these approaches will be for diverse ecosystems and species and, drawing from these insights, lead to improvements to implementation guidelines for habitat-based approaches. Benefits may accrue to a specific installation that seek cost-effective and efficient ways to meet statutory requirements, enable development of strategies for priority habitats/species that can serve as a starting point for installation-specific conservation plans, or improve service and/or department-wide outcomes such as development of large-area conservation plans that direct resources to locations where they will achieve the greatest results.

The DoD manages a wide range of natural ecosystems, species, and habitats to create environments for training and testing operations. It also seeks to be a good environmental steward by conserving habitats that foster rare species and is required to meet mandates under the federal Endangered Species Act. More than 550 threatened and endangered species are found on DoD's military installations and ranges, including many that exist exclusively on DoD lands.

Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the DoD seeks to increase flexibility and efficiency in meeting biodiversity conservation mandates by applying habitat-based conservation approaches (e.g., USFWS’ Strategic Habitat Conservation) that would effectively support multiple species of concern, rather than designing management plans on a species-by-species basis. Although the habitat-based conservation approaches are not new, they need detailed evaluation in diverse settings and across suites of species, including exploration of the underlying assumptions or contexts for which they are likely or unlikely to be successful.

The cost and time to meet the requirements of this SON are at the discretion of the proposer. The two options are as follows:

Standard Proposals: These proposals describe a complete research effort. The proposer should incorporate the appropriate time, schedule, and cost requirements to accomplish the scope of work proposed. SERDP projects normally run from two to five years in length and vary considerably in cost consistent with the scope of the effort. It is expected that most proposals will fall into this category.

Limited Scope Proposals: Proposers with innovative approaches to the SON that entail high technical risk or have minimal supporting data may submit a Limited Scope Proposal for funding up to $250,000 and approximately one year in duration. Such proposals may be eligible for follow-on funding if they result in a successful initial project. The objective of these proposals should be to acquire the data necessary to demonstrate proof-of-concept or reduction of risk that will lead to development of a future Standard Proposal. Proposers should submit Limited Scope Proposals in accordance with the SERDP Core Solicitation instructions and deadlines.