Goals

The aim of the Amphibian Disease portal is to facilitate data sharing of chytrid disease presence and absence from field and lab studies, which we view as the first step to effectively address the global amphibian crisis. We aim to encourage collaboration and facilitate coordination among researchers and agencies involved in amphibian disease studies, particularly chytridiomycosis.

Data

1. Contributors and Users
   We refer to individuals who upload datasets and project information as Contributors. We refer to individuals who download or otherwise use data on the portal and the website as Users. We will never share Contributor or User information that is not public on the site. We do not store data on Users but may use cookies and third-party applications such as Google Analytics to understand patterns of anonymous use.

2. Ownership of Data
   The Amphibian Disease Portal (https://amphibiandisease.org) is developed and maintained by the AmphibiaWeb Project, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. As a non-profit, educational and research entity, this is a public domain database and website that supplies publicly available data freely. We offer no guarantees or warranty, implied or explicit, about the completeness or accuracy of data nor its most appropriate use. We provide data for use in research and education only, requesting attribution to the Contributor. We appreciate acknowledgement to the Amphibian Disease Portal and AmphibiaWeb.

3. Accuracy
   To the best of their abilities, Contributors will provide accurate and complete data. The expectation is one of good faith representation of data that you fully own and control to be uploaded to the Amphibian Disease Portal. Geocoordinates for sensitive species or sites may not be purposely obscured. If there are legitimate reasons to protect localities, it is preferred to encumber data, i.e., keep private (see Embargo Policy).

4. Data Licensing
   Contributors upon uploading data to the Portal agrees to these terms and specifically allows us to assign unique digital object identifiers to projects and datasets under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

5. Public Availability and Embargo Policy
   We recognize that data on some locality (point) records may be deemed premature for public use, such as graduate student dissertations or other active research projects. We need to balance that with the intent of the Portal to facilitate collaborations and aggregate data to study disease. Thus, basic information on Projects may be publicly viewable (e.g., Principal Investigator, Contact name, basic abstract, generalized area of interest to be determined by Contributor) and will be accessible on the portal without user registration and be subject to search engine results. Datasets (point records) associated with projects are private by default until the Contributor chooses to make those data public. Once made public, it may not be revoked. We recommend projects and their datasets be made fully public within 2 years or whenever the datasets are first published (including dissertations). If Contributors have not made their data public within 2 years and have not requested a continuance, we reserve the right to make these data public.

6. Use of Data amphibiandisease.org is a public database created for the purpose of education and scientific investigation. These data are not confirmed as official results. amphibiandisease.org does not offer any warranty or representation, expressed or implied, about data accuracy, completeness, or appropriateness for a particular purpose. You assume full responsibility for using amphibiandisease.org data or information presented on its website. You understand and agree that neither amphibiandisease.org nor its Partners are responsible or liable for any claim, loss or damage resulting from the use of amphibiandisease.org website. See the text of the GPL license for more information on warranty and liability disclaimers.

7. GEOME-db Data Use Policy amphibiandisease.org shares infrastructure with the GEOME-DB.org database project and share Data Use policies outlined here: : https://geome-db.org/about

Portal and Code

1. Project License This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The full source code is available at: Legacy version: https://github.com/AmphibiaWeb/amphibian-disease-tracker; current version: https://github.com/BNHM/AmphibiaWebDiseasePortal

2. Privacy This site only retains basic information that you provide on registration, and basic session information such as your last login IP address. We may use cookies to manage your authentication and one-time notices.

No Regulatory Authority: amphibiandisease.org has no regulatory authority, and submitting data to it does not constitute an official pathogen-reporting record.

Questions: For questions on data loading into GEOME contact GEOME HELP. For all other questions, contact: Email AmphibiaWeb; for other feedback and any suggestions: Email Michelle Koo