The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that Caitlin Jarvis will present Master’s research titled, The Effects of Urbanization on Disease Prevalence in Managed Honey Bee Hives in Hamilton County, TN on 03/08/2023 at 13:00 in UTC Library 205. Everyone is invited to attend.
Environmental Science
Chair: DeAnna Beasley
Co-Chair:
Abstract:
Rapid urban development in the Southeastern U.S. may increase stress and disease exposure on economically important organisms, such as honey bees. Apiaries containing a total of 53 hives were surveyed for diseases and hive productivity in summer, fall, and spring of 2021-2022 in Hamilton County, Tennessee at varying levels of urbanization. Honey bee foraging distances of up to 9.5km have been recorded, although the average is 1.5 km. Disease levels were analyzed at 1.0km intervals from 0.5-9.5 km radii from each hive. An Akaike information criterion estimator was used to select which radius best fit the data. Varroa levels significantly decreased with increased urbanization at a foraging radius of 1.5km (n= 58, p= 0.0212, r= -0.3019872). There was a weak negative correlation between varroa load and the likelihood of surviving the study (r= -0.2740102). There was a positive relationship between urbanization and small hive beetle count when all seasons were combined. The AIC selected radius was 9.5 km. There was a positive relationship between small hive beetle counts and increased urbanization (n=101, p= 0.006927, r=0.2671194). The results for varroa were unexpected as concentrated resources found in urbanized areas theoretically would aid in higher levels of pathogen transfer. However, as an exotic and cavity nesting species honey bees may benefit from urban environments