Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Tucson, Arizona » Carl Hayden Bee Research Center » People » William Meikle

William G Meikle

Research Entomologist

Meikle Laboratory
/ARSUserFiles/48464/William Meikle with hive scale and computer.jpg

Willliam G. Meikle
Research Entomologist
Carl Hayden Bee Research Center
2000 E. Allen Rd, Tucson, AZ, 85719
E-mail: william.meikle@usda.gov
Phone: (520) 647-9196 Fax: (520) 670-6493

EDUCATION

1992     Ph.D.      University of California, Berkeley, Entomology

1982     B.A.         Pomona College, Claremont, CA, Biology

CURRENT RESEARCH

Our current research focuses on developing the use of sensors to model bee colony dynamics and to monitor bee health productivity and performance.

Continuous monitoring provides robust data that allows us to correlate hive events, such as changes in forager activity, with external factors such as weather events, blooms of important flower species, or pesticide application in a neighboring field. Continuously weighing hives (hourly or more often) using electronic sensors is a colony monitoring approach that offers a high information yield with comparatively little hive disturbance. Continuous weight data have been shown to be rich in information on colony growth and consumption, swarming, weather effects and hive abandonment.  Other kinds of data that can provide information on hive health and activity include temperature, humidity, O2 and CO2 concentration, forager traffic, vibration and acoustic signals. Analysis of these data over time may allow us to use continuous monitoring tools to predict hive activities and diagnose colony disorders.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2012-present   Research Entomologist, Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ. 
2009-2012  Research Entomologist, Honey Bee Research Unit, Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center, USDA-ARS, Weslaco, TX.
2001-2009 Research Entomologist, European Biological Control Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Montferrier-sur-Lez, France.
1995-2001 Principal and Associate Scientist, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Calavi, Benin.
1993-1995 Post-doctoral Fellow, IITA, Calavi, Benin.
1989-1992 Rockefeller Predoctoral Fellow, IITA, Calavi, Benin.

1986-1989

Research and Teaching Assistantships, University of California, Berkeley, CA.
1984-1986 Peace Corps Volunteer, The Gambia.

Patent:

Meikle, W.G., and C. Nansen. U.S. Patent Number 8,226,938. Biocontrol of Varroa Mites. November 2011.