Free Access
Issue
Apidologie
Volume 31, Number 6, November/December 2000
Page(s) 707 - 716
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2000155
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2000155

Apidologie 31 (2000) 707-716

A simplified technique for counting Varroa jacobsoni Oud. on sticky boards

Nancy Ostiguy - Diana Sammataro

Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

(Received 21 July 1999; revised 11 January 2000; accepted 25 August 2000)

Abstract:

The most common method used to assess the level of mite infestation in a bee colony is to count all the mites that fall onto sticky boards placed on the bottom of a colony. Unfortunately, this is a laborious and boring task. Therefore, a stratified sampling technique was devised to accurately estimate the number of mites on sticky boards. The technique, when compared to a census count of all mites, resulted in a coefficient of determination of 0.97 or greater. The stratified sampling protocol in which we randomly selected 33% of the cells on a sticky board and did not choose new random numbers for each sticky board resulted in an accurate estimate of the number of Varroa jacobsoni. This technique gave a mean percent error of $0.4\% \pm 9.5\%$ for any one estimate of a sticky board.


Keywords: stratified sampling / Varroa jacobsoni / mite / sticky board

Correspondence and reprints: Nancy Ostiguy
nxo3@psu.edu

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