Weed Wipeout Instruction Card

Activity: Weed Wipeout! - Notes for the facilitator.

• This experiential game is about the threat of weeds and the effect they can have on an ecosystem when there are no controls in place.

Round One Wipeout - The impact of weeds on native plants

• Mark out an area approx. 15mX15m.
  
• Designate two people to be weeds.
  
• The rest of the class are all native plants. They are allowed to walk within the boundaries.
  
• Let the two weeds loose among the native plants. The weeds hold hands and start running around tagging native plants with their free out-stretched hands.
  
• The tagged native plants then die and join the line of weeds. Still holding hands in one big line the weed group moves forward trying to catch the remaining native plants with the two people on each end of the line being the only weeds able to tag. When the weed group becomes more than three they break off to form pairs.
  
• As more native plants are tagged their numbers decrease until none are left.

Discussion & Reflection:

Why are the weeds so destructive? Answers may include; they strangle and cover native plants. the large numbers eventually kill all the plants.

Why are the native plants so important? Answers may include; they are special to New Zealand , they provide a habitat for the creatures that live there, they are important to Maori cultural traditions etc.

What will happen if weeds are not controlled? Biodiversity (the variety of living things) will decrease. Plants, animals and micro-organisms only found in New Zealand will be lost. Ecosystems will be destroyed.

Round Two Wipeout - Weed Control!

Set out the area as in round one

Start out with two weeds tagging the native plants. This time introduce one of the weed control measures below. The person who is designated to carry out the control measures runs around the boundary markers and at a predetermined point enters the playing area and tries to reduce the weed numbers in the following ways;

Biological Control - person 'flies' around and tags weeds who then become native plants.

Herbicides - place a small white disk on the ground in the playing area. If a weed stands or runs over the disks they die of poisoning and rejoin the game as a native plant.

Mechanical (weeders!) - person enters the playing area and walks around tagging weeds who become a newly planted native plant.

Start again by introducing a second measure. Stop, process, and introduce a third and so on until the plants are obviously on top. The overall effect is that the plants will be more likely to survive.

Discussion & Reflection:

What role do biological control, herbicides and weeders play? They make the population sustainable by helping to stop the spread of weeds.

How much energy do the control measures expend running around the boundary? More than the weeds.

What are some of the problems we face with weeds? There are no natural enemies to help keep weed numbers down. Weeds like the climate and soil of New Zealand and reproduce easily.

Do we want weeds taking over our native plants? No! Weeds threaten the biodiversity of our country and can cause health and economic problems.

Download -Weed Wipeout Instruction Card doc