ReadMe File for Loftus_etal_MitesData.csv Cornell eCommons Repository Publication Title: How Honey Bee Colonies Survive in the Wild: Testing the Importance of Small Nests and Frequent Swarming Authors: J. Carter Loftus, Michael L. Smith, and Thomas D. Seeley* *Corresponding Author Email: tds5@cornell.edu Alternate Contact Email: mls453@cornell.edu Funding: This research was supported by a grant from the Eastern Apiculture Society Research Fund, a Hatch Grant (Project No. NYC-191400) from the Cornell University Agriculture Experiment Station (to TDS), and by a US National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-1144153) (to MLS). Geographic Location: This study was performed at a site owned by Cornell University outside of Ithaca, NY (42 Degrees 26'9.88" N, 76 Degrees 25'50.45" W). The site consisted of a field with two mowed areas for two apiaries: one for the small-hive colonies and one for the large-hive colonies. Statement of Data Use: These data are free and available for public use. The authors would appreciate if you would cite both the original publication and the dataset: Loftus JC, Smith ML, Seeley TD (2016) How Honey Bee Colonies Survive in the Wild: Testing the Importance of Small Nests and Frequent Swarming. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0150362. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150362 Descriptions of column headers: ColonyNo. Labels for colonies used in the experiment. Each begins with the letter c (to denote colony) and then a number. The letter "a" after the number denotes colonies that had been replaced in 2013. Treatment There are two treatment groups "small" and "large." To test the hypothesis that small nest cavities contribute to the ability of wild colonies to ?persist without Varroa treatments, we performed an experiment that compared two groups of colonies. In one group, the colonies lived in small (42 L) hives and were left alone. These were our "small-hive colonies," which simulated wild colonies of honey bees. In the other group, the colonies lived in large hives (up to 168 L) and were managed in ways that reduced their swarming and maximized their honey production: queen cells were removed periodically and colonies were given two deep hive bodies for a brood chamber plus another two deep hive bodies ("honey supers") for honey storage. These were our "large-hive colonies", which simulated typical managed colonies of honey bees. Date The day (YYYY-MM-DD) upon which data were collected. ExpDay The experimental day upon which data were collected. Day 0 is defined as 5 June 2012. Year The year upon which data were collected. Mites.300bees We made measurements of the mite infestation rate per 300 of the adult bees in ?each colony using the powdered sugar method. See publication: Dietemann V, Nazzi F, Martin SJ, Anderson DL, Locke B, Delaplane KS, Wauquiez Q, Tannahill C, Frey E, Ziegelmann B, Rosenkranz P, Ellis JD. (2013) Standard methods for varroa research. J Apic Res 52: 1-54. doi:10.3896/IBRA.1.52.1.09 Mites.100bees We divided "Mites.300bees" by three to obtain the number of mites per 100 bees. This is a more commonly used metric for the mite infestation rate of adult bees. BeeCount To measure the adult bee population, we examined each side of every frame in a hive and estimated to the nearest 10% the fraction of the frame covered by adult bees. These values were summed for a colony. Bees To calculate the adult bee population, we multiplied "BeeCount" by 1,000 to obtain an estimate of the adult bee population of the colony; one side of a frame that is fully, but not densely, covered by bees has approximately 1,000 bees. See publication: Delaplane KS, van der Steen J, Guzman-Novoa E. (2013) Standard methods for estimating strength parameters of Apis mellifera colonies. J Apic Res 52: 1-12. doi: 10.3896/IBRA.1.52.1.03 BroodCount To measure the adult bee population, we examined each side of every frame in a hive and estimating to the nearest 10% the fraction of the cells on each side of every frame that were filled with brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae). These values were summed for a colony. BroodCells To calculate the number of brood cells in a colony, we multiplied "BroodCount" by 3,276 to give the total number of cells containing brood in a hive, because one side of a frame contains approximately 3,276 cells. See publication: Delaplane KS, van der Steen J, Guzman-Novoa E. (2013) Standard methods for estimating strength parameters of Apis mellifera colonies. J Apic Res 52: 1-12. doi: 10.3896/IBRA.1.52.1.03 Colonies that swarmed List of colonies that swarmed in 2013 in the small hive treatment group and the large hive treatment group. We noted if a colony had swarmed, which was indicated by various signs: a break in the colony's brood production, an unmarked queen, or the presence of a queen cell from which a queen had recently emerged. (Note: the presence of an unmarked queen in a colony can occur through queen supersedure as well as swarming, but we believe that most of the unmarked queens found in this study were due to swarming because we collected numerous swarms (13 total) from the trees and shrubs near the two apiaries.) NA- denotes that we did not collect those data for that day.