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New online archive stores whirling disease findings
January 31, 2007 -- From MSU News Service
BOZEMAN -- An online archive is now available to researchers, fishery managers and others who want to access or share information about whirling disease.
Free to users, the archive stores results from research projects funded by the federal Whirling Disease Initiative. Congress established the initiative in 1997 to encourage researchers to find practical ways to maintain wild trout populations in the presence of whirling disease.
"We are very pleased to offer this important tool to researchers and decision makers," said Liz Galli-Noble, program director for the Whirling Disease Initiative, which is administered at Montana State University. "It is vital that the volumes of information generated through this research initiative be archived and available to inform future investigations and management decisions."
The archive -- officially called the Whirling Disease Initiative Data Repository -- is located at http://data.whirlingdisease.montana.edu It is expected to grow substantially over the next several years into the most complete set of whirling disease resources available, Galli-Noble said. The repository was developed by the Montana Water Center based at MSU, MSU's Big Sky Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey Mountain Prairie Information Node of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII).
Whirling disease was discovered in 1956 in the United States and in 1994 in Montana. The disease affects salmonids, the family of fish that include rainbow trout and salmon. It can be particularly deadly in juveniles. Whirling disease is caused by the parasite M. cerebralis and requires two hosts. One is fish. The other is a tiny worm called T. tubifex.
For more information about the repository, contact Kajsa Stromberg at (406) 994-2550 or kstromberg@montana.edu
Evelyn Boswell, (406) 994-5135 or evelynb@montana.edu
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