Virus Targets Amphibians.On 8 August 2000, USGS USGS United States Geological Survey (US Department of the Interior) scientists announced their finding that an emerging iridovirus disease is partially to blame for a large die-off of western tiger salamanders in North Dakota North Dakota, state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Minnesota, across the Red River of the North (E), South Dakota (S), Montana (W), and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (N). . The same disease has also been linked to declines in the populations of multiple amphibian amphibian, in zoology amphibian, in zoology, cold-blooded vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia. There are three living orders of amphibians: the frogs and toads (order Anura, or Salientia), the salamanders and newts (order Urodela, or Caudata), and the species in the Midwest and in eastern sections of the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . USGS researcher David Mushet says the recent die-off is the first amphibian mortality event due to disease recorded at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Cottonwood Lake Study Area of North Dakota since data gathering began in 1967. The scientists are working to establish whether the localized die-offs are part of a long-term worldwide amphibian decline that is only now being uncovered due to a greater emphasis being placed on amphibian population surveillance in recent years. |
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