The intense heat in recent Arizona summers is taking a toll on the smaller saguaro cactus.
The survival of saguaro seedlings is being threatened by extended drought periods, as rainfall is their primary water source during their early decades.
Erik Rakestraw, curator of Botany at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, says nurse plants are crucial toward the development of younger saguaros.
“So if you, if those things go away and you know, nurse plants, nurse trees go away, the saguaros will have no place to get a foothold and carry on future generations, " Rakestraw said.
Rakestraw also stated that although some large saguaro cactus can suffer from windthrow or bacterial necrosis, he hasn’t seen a loss of the larger saguaros on the Tucson grounds.
I think what's happening up in Phoenix with the hotter temps and the sort of the heat island effect of maybe saguaros that are in landscape settings or in road medians with that reflected heat,” Rakestraw said. “I think that would definitely have some impacts, especially when temps are not cooling down and you have those high overnight temps, but around Tucson and especially here on grounds, we're not seeing a loss of the larger saguaros.
