Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

Amiri, Esmaeil

Committee Member

Cook, Donald

Committee Member

Chen, Jian

Committee Member

Krishnan, Natraj

Date of Degree

5-15-2026

Original embargo terms

Visible MSU Only 1 year

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Agricultural Life Sciences (Entomology)

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Agricultural Science and Plant Protection

Abstract

The small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) is a persistent pest of honey bee colonies in the southeastern United States, yet field-based data linking environmental drivers to population structure and reliable colony-level estimates remain limited. This thesis integrated a two-year, four-site study across Mississippi with a controlled mark-recapture experiment to quantify environmental influences on small hive beetle (SHB) population dynamics and evaluate colony-level population estimation methods. In Chapter II, beetles were monitored monthly from May 2024 to November 2025 to assess colony abundance, sex ratio, and adult body size in relation to temperature, humidity, precipitation, and other climatic variables. Populations peaked in summer, were consistently female-biased, and increased with temperature, while elevated humidity and precipitation corresponded with reduced body size. In Chapter III, marked beetles were released and recaptured to estimate colony-level populations and assess trap performance. Trap counts underestimated true abundance but provided scalable estimates. Together, these findings improve understanding of SHB ecology and monitoring strategies.

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