Dataset Detail
Dataset: Habitat assessments at Rock Creek sites
| Project: Epidemiology of Whirling Disease: An Integrated Study of the Rock Creek Drainage, Montana
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| Dataset Abstract: Habitat assessments were made at each sentinel cage site in the Rock Creek drainage. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aquatic habitat assessment forms rank the habitat based on an overall score. Assessments were conducted at each site the first time it was sampled. Some were sampled in 1998, others in 1999, etc. to 2002. | |
| Significance of Results: Fish get infected in areas where there are no worms. Infected worms were found primarily in marginal and suboptimal habitats, though they were also found in optimal habitats as well. No obvious correlation was found between habitat assessment score and presence of M. cerebralis in rainbow trout or Tubifex tubifex. In the past, presence of M. cerebralis had been thought to be linked to marginal habitat alone, but these data show that optimal habitats can support M. cerebralis infection of fish and/or worms as well. | |
| Relevance to Managers: Infected T. tubifex are found all habitat types. In an optimal habitat, their distribution is limited to microhabitats where there are concentrations of sediment. In marginal or poor habitats, worms will be more evenly distributed. | |
| Utility to Researchers: These EPA habitat assessment scores could be useful as baseline data indicating habitat quality. | |
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