In order to act as effective agricultural pollinators wild bees must not only pollinate the target crop, but also have nesting behaviours that allow them to nest nearby or in situ. To establish their potential as crop pollinators we studied stem-nesting bees in the genus Exoneura, in and around Rubus berry farms in the Yarra Valley, Australia, where they had been observed nesting in nearby forested areas. Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are used as managed pollinators of Rubus crops, but we found that a single Exoneura visit to blackberry (Rubus fruticosus L. sp. agg.) was equivalent to a single honey bee visit, causing a three-fold increase in drupelet count. We found Exoneura nesting on farm in the stems of raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) plants, at an estimated density of 3320 bees per hectare. Nests were more likely to be found in stems that were narrow and upright, suggesting that crop pruning strategies could focus on preserving select suitable stems for nesting. Exoneura were more abundant on flowers when local nest density was high (at 50 m) and when there was more native vegetation cover nearby (1 km), indicating that Exoneura are flexible in their selection of nesting habitat and able to nest on farm, but with their broader-scaled abundance still influenced by presence of native vegetation.

为了充当有效的农业授粉者，野生蜜蜂不仅必须为目标作物授粉，而且还必须具有允许它们在附近或原地筑巢的筑巢行为。为了确定它们作为作物传粉媒介的潜力，我们研究了Exoneura属的茎筑巢蜜蜂，在澳大利亚亚拉河谷的Rubus浆果农场内和周围，观察到它们在附近的森林地区筑巢。蜜蜂 ( Apis mellifera L.) 被用作Rubus作物的受管理传粉媒介，但我们发现单次Exoneura访问黑莓 ( Rubus fruticosusL. sp. agg.) 相当于一次蜜蜂访问，导致小核果数量增加了三倍。我们发现Exoneura在农场的树莓 ( Rubus idaeus L.) 植物的茎中筑巢，估计密度为每公顷 3320 只蜜蜂。在狭窄且直立的茎中更有可能发现巢穴，这表明作物修剪策略可以专注于保留选择合适的茎进行筑巢。当局部巢密度高（50 m）和附近（1 km）有更多原生植被覆盖时，Exoneura在花朵上更丰富，表明Exoneura 它们在选择筑巢栖息地方面很灵活，并且能够在农场筑巢，但它们更广泛的丰度仍然受到本地植被存在的影响。