Arizona’s relentless summer heat is posing a significant challenge to the survival of its iconic saguaro cacti, particularly the younger ones. With prolonged drought conditions, these seedlings face an uphill battle as they rely heavily on rainfall for sustenance during their formative years.
According to Erik Rakestraw, the curator of Botany at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, nurse plants play a vital role in the early stages of a saguaro’s life. He explains, “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.”
While the larger saguaros are not currently experiencing significant losses in Tucson, Rakestraw notes that these cacti can still be vulnerable to issues like windthrow or bacterial necrosis. However, the situation differs in Phoenix, where the urban heat island effect and higher overnight temperatures could be affecting saguaros planted in landscaped areas or road medians. Rakestraw comments, “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… 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.”
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