Students, researchers and conservation groups with project ideas that would advance the All-Taxa Biological Inventory in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park could be elligible for grants for the 2005 field season.

Discover Life in America, the non-profit supporting and driving the comprehensive species survey in the park, has allocated $52,000 for grants this year.

Projects that would make good canidates are: expeditions to collect species, projects to identify previously-collected georeferenced specimens, a pollinator workshop and bioblitzes, the trademark weeklong workshops that engage volunteers in scouring an area for certain species.

There is also a need for specific taxonomic working group products such as database-driven species web pages, identification guides, keys, and other primary literature. Proposals of $5,000 or less will also be good candidates.

See www.dlia.org/dlia/proposal_2005.shtml for more information.