Predation at the nesting site can significantly affect solitary bees’ reproductive success. We tested female red mason bees’ (Osmia bicornis L.) acceptance of potential nesting sites, some of which were marked with cues coming from predated conspecifics (crushed bees) or from a predator itself (rodent excreta). In our experiment, females did not avoid nests marked with either of the two predator cues. We suggest that bee females do not recognize these two cues as risky. Alternatively, costs of abandoning natal aggregation might be too high compared with any perceived predation risk of staying. Moreover, the presence of crushed bees can provide positive information about the presence of conspecifics and, possibly, information about a nesting aggregation that may be preferred by bees when choosing a nesting site.

中文翻译：

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孤蜂巢中的捕食线索

筑巢地点的捕食会显着影响孤独蜜蜂的繁殖成功。我们测试了雌性红梅森蜜蜂 (Osmia bicornis L.) 对潜在筑巢地点的接受程度，其中一些标有来自同种（粉碎的蜜蜂）或捕食者本身（啮齿动物的排泄物）的线索。在我们的实验中，雌性没有避开标记有两种捕食者线索中的任何一种的巢穴。我们建议蜜蜂雌性不要认为这两个线索是有风险的。或者，与任何感知的留下来的捕食风险相比，放弃出生聚合的成本可能太高了。此外，粉碎蜜蜂的存在可以提供有关同种存在的积极信息，并且可能提供有关蜜蜂在选择筑巢地点时可能喜欢的筑巢聚集的信息。