Proactive responses are most effective for fighting marine disease, Oregon State research shows

by Sarah Gravem, Oregon State University
October 04, 2022

The best time to deal with diseases in marine species is before an outbreak occurs, a study by Oregon State University shows.

Researchers in OSU’s College of Science and Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine evaluated more than a dozen disease management strategies and found the most promising ones were proactive rather than reactive, such as increasing marine ecosystem health and building marine disease monitoring and response networks.

The findings, published in Ecological Applications, are important because marine diseases can disrupt ecosystems and threaten human livelihoods, and because outbreaks are expected to increase with climate change, said Sarah Gravem, a research associate in integrative biology at Oregon State.

Keep reading: https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/warmer-stream-temperatures-burned-over-oregon-watershed-didn%E2%80%99t-result-fewer-trout

Read the Ecological Applications paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2643