when bumblebees were imported from Europe to help with the pollination. Maintaining red clover population in New Zealand at the time was critical to the country's crop production rate. However, in North America, the managed honeybee industry experienced decline in the early 2000s due to colony collapse disorder. This has led to higher expenses for farmers from the east to the west coast of the United States and Canada to help pollinate almonds, cucumbers and certain seed plants. One of the most common plants that are assisted by buzz pollination is the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). In greenhouses worldwide, up to 50 bumblebee colonies are used per hectare during growing season, bringing in values of approximately €13 million a year for a 40,000 hectare globally. Due to competition between producers and an increase in success rate of rearing, the total costs for the bumblebee colonies have diminished severely. This common practice has led to producers branching out and selling not only bumblebees but other insects who may have mutualistic relationships with plants. The total profit of this industry has been recorded to produce over €111 million a year, with €61 million coming in from bumblebees alone. Environmental impacts Some conservation organisations complain about the potential environmental impacts of introducing bumblebees around the world to aid in pollination. In Australia, as bumblebees are not native, and Australia has a number of widely publicised environmental disasters caused by escaped introduced species ("feral species"), research is under way to adapt the use of the Australian native Amegilla cingulata (blue banded bees) for the same task. Alternative means of pollination Greenhouse grown tomatoes are unproductive without aid in pollination. Traditionally, pollination has been done by shaking using electric vibrators (one brand name was "Electric Bee"), however, it has been found to be less expensive in human labor and plant breakage to use bumblebees within the greenhouses. Home growers and amateurs can be seen on YouTube using electric toothbrushes to pollinate their flowers. References External links Buzz Pollination, Anne Leonard Lab. Carl Zimmer, Unraveling the Pollinating Secrets of a Bee’s Buzz, New York Times, July 11, 2013. Sue Rosenthal, Buzz Pollination, Bay Nature, June 11, 2008. Buzz pollination and bee learning, Vallejo-Marin Lab Bees Pollination