------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 19:22:29 -0500 From: "David W. Inouye"Subject: small grants program in marine environmental history and historical ecology Applications are now open for Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grants in Marine Environmental History and Historical Ecology Application Deadline: May 25, 2001 Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) has launched a program to provide small grants for several research projects in the areas of marine environmental history and historical ecology. The program is dedicated to the memory and scientific legacy of Mia J. Tegner, a marine biologist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography who lost her life in January while observing the marine environment in the waters off Southern California. Dr. Tegner's research focused on the ecology of kelp forest communities and made significant contributions to the field historical ecology. The program aims to provide policy makers and conservationists with crucial information for devising projects that hold high potential for both successful restoration and conservation of marine biodiversity. We will consider proposals related to estuarine and marine environments anywhere in the world, from natural and social scientists interested in uncovering interactions between environmental and human history in the marine realm. We are particularly interested in studies that seek to describe natural systems and their component species prior to large-scale human impacts since European colonization in the Americas. Proposal evaluation criteria include the potential for the project to influence the field of marine conservation biology and demonstration by the applicant(s) of a given project's significance to an important marine conservation issue. Background information and details on the grant application process are available at www.mcbi.org.