by SARAH JOYNER
ARE BEE COLONIES IN SODDY DAISY HEALTHIER THAN HIVES IN DOWNTOWN CHATTANOOGA? Caitlin Jarvis spent her summer researching that question. As a first-year environmental science graduate student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Jarvis primarily studies backyard beehives throughout Hamilton County to see which environments and beekeeping practices are most successful. Many hives belong to local hobby beekeepers and, with permission from the apiarists—the scientific name for beekeepers—Jarvis and undergraduate researchers from UTC are studying the colonies. Opening the hives, they carefully pull out bee-coated frames and take photos. Later, they compare hives. Who has the most bees? How much honey has been produced in each? “We’re generally trying to see how productive the hive is—how big it is, but mainly I’m looking for signs of disease,” Jarvis explains. She performs a sugar shake test, a surveillance method that shakes fine sugar onto bees, to check for pests like the Varroa mite. The parasite resembles a tick and attaches itself to a bee’s body, causing disease and weakening the bee. Don’t worry, the sugar shake bees return to their colonies unharmed. Caitlin Jarvis UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
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