WBFC Research Awards Competition Grant

The Washington Biologists' Field Club (WBFC) Research Awards Competition offers grants to support field research focused on the Mid-Atlantic Region's natural history. This includes studies on biodiversity, ecology, and conservation, with a particular emphasis on organisms from Plummers Island and the Potomac River. The WBFC encourages proposals that enhance understanding of lesser-known taxa and has funded diverse research topics, such as fish behavior and conservation genetics.

Washington Biologists' Field Club Research Awards Competition
Purpose:
The Washington Biologists' Field Club (WBFC), organized in 1900, annually provides competitive grants to support field research on the natural history of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States. The WBFC welcomes proposals that consider aspects of natural history, systematics, biodiversity, ecology, or environmental issues. This year, studies focusing on organisms occurring on Plummers Island, Maryland, and within the Potomac River drainage will be given high priority for funding, but field-based research projects conducted throughout the Mid-Atlantic will also be considered for funding. The WBFC is particularly interested in studies increasing knowledge of the biodiversity, conservation, and natural history of poorly-known taxa. Awards that were funded in 2024 supported studies of fish behavior, disease ecology of clams, community ecology of marine invertebrates, host-parasite interactions in mud crabs, crayfish color vision, human tolerance of carnivores, conservation genetics of endangered plants, and the natural history of local caterpillar-ant mutualisms.