Drill Teams

Emergency preparedness drills occur all over the world. Here in the USA, we do them to test our preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters like hurricanes. In New Zealand, they just finished one for invasive species. As reported by the Manawatu Standard, the Horizons Regional Council assisted Biosecurity New Zealand in performing a simulation in order to test how effectively they could deal with the invasion of the freshwater algae didymo (Didymoshenia geminata, also known as rock snot) in the Manawatu River. Didymo has already invaded New Zealand's South Island but has yet to be found in the Manawatu or other rivers on the North Island.

Thanks to Andrew B. for sending in a link to the story. Bonus points to the Manawatu Standard for including didymo's scientific name in the story.