SBI 3U1Diversity Unit Critical Thinking Challenge- SAMPLE

Conservation Triage: there has been a chemical dump from a paint factory that has seeped into the Dundas Valley watershed – right near a highly diverse ecological hotspot. Large numbers of species of aquatic organisms and plants are impacted. If you were in charge – prepare an action plan for you Conservation Triage Team

Who will you save? Immediately? Later? Leave to die? What will be the significant challenges to organizing remediation actions?

Triage comes from the French verb “trier”, which means “to sort”. It evolved, perhaps as early as Napoleon’s time, as a technique for assigning priorities for treatment of the injured when resources were limited. The principle of triage implies making the most efficient use of available resources.

Why triage?

There are three major reasons why triage is beneficial in the disaster response.

a) Triage separates out those who need rapid medical care to save life.

b) By separating out the minor injuries, triage reduces the urgent burden on medical facilities and organizations. On average, only 10–15% of disaster casualties are serious enough to require immediate attention and moving to a hospital.

c) By providing for the equitable and rational distribution of casualties among the available clinics and labs, triage reduces the burden on each to a manageable level, often even to “non-disaster” levels.

In this task you will investigate a serious threat to the diversity of an ecological hotspot in your region of Ontario. SAMPLE THREAT: The hotspot is the watershed you visited with your class – the Dundas Valley Conservation Area, a UNISCO protected site. On our class trip you classified macro invertebrates, learned how to use a Biotic Index, identified organisms as pollution sensitive, pollution tolerant and highly pollution sensitive and determined the health of this ecosystem. In this activity you will use all the knowledge gained to mitigate a potential disaster!

How will you respond?

What will you do first? How will you manage the site? Who should be the first responders?

Step 1

Locate the source of the spill –how?

Goal – limit the exposure to the spill – how?What criteria will you use?

If there are many threats provide an assessment of the ones you think are the most important. Are the threats increasing or decreasing?

Note – The International Union for the conservation so nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is the most comprehensive database for needed information.

Step 2

Use the SALT procedure – sort, assess, lifesaving interventions, treatment/transport

How will you judge/assess the level of threat? Create a flow chart using your checklists.

Which micro invertebrates need to be saved first? Second? Left to die or survive? What criteria did you use to decide on your ranking?

Step 3

Remediation – how to avoid further loss of biodiversity?

Keep in mind ….How will you protect your team from injury – what PPE will be needed?

What criteria will you use to determine your remediation plans?

Step 4

Put it all together

Create an effective and plausible plan of action; review the plan based on the criteria developed from your checklists, how successful will it be in maintaining the biodiversity in the area? What are the challenges for your plan to be effective and successful?

•Who will be responsible for remediation? Who is best placed to undertake this? To what extent can remediation remedy, restore and retain species?

Can what is being suggested have a significant long-term impact? Or are you suggesting just a short-term solution?

FINAL REPORT
Prepare a report:
A.Abstract - Summary of your entire action plan. Try to limit it to 250 words
B.IntroductionBackground information gained about the site- abiotic and biotic factors, diversity of the location (estimated numbers of different species), purpose of a triage, organization of the triage, etc.
C.Outline of your Triage Plan – include a Flowchart & allChecklists
D.Remediation plan suggestions & justification

EVALUATION – see attached Checklist & Rubric

You will be evaluated on:

-the quality of your assessment of the threats to the diversity of species

-your understanding of the importance of biodiversity in supporting sustainability

-your ability to connect evidence discovered about the site to what is already known about biodiversity

-your plan of action – is it plausible, well thought out, practical, thorough, well communicated? Have you followed a triage model?

-Your remediation plan – is it detailed, is it cost-effective, will it ensure no further loss of species

Conservation Triage Checklist

Be sure you have done the following in your report:

  • considered all the facts – abiotic and biotic factors;
  • described the nature of the event/disaster;
  • included a clear description of the location of the threatened area
  • did not ignore any of the observed species – including the keystone species
  • considered resources available and imminence of the threat faced in your plan of action
  • check that your triage plan is complete – (SALT)outline includes how to identify/assess and prioritize the victims, how they will be treated/moved etc.
  • a list of safety precautions to be taken during the triage action
  • does your Remediation plan provide at least 3 ways to avoid further species loss.
  • Raises new questions or provides ideas for additional research

How clearly have you done the following?

  1. Is the checklist/flowchart(s)created effective to help identify the critical organisms in the stream?
  2. How you would know the impact of the loss of one species on the ecosystem?
  3. Provide detailed description of how effective your quick action- triage would be at saving the biodiversity of an ecosystem?
  4. Assess the degree to which biodiversity is important to maintaining the ecosystem.