This is an overview of the recent news that the cactus family is the fifth most endangered plant or animal family on the planet and some of the new methods that conservation biologists are using to try to “save the cacti”, including research I’m doing that is partially funded by the San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society.
Peter Breslin is a student in the Environmental Life Sciences PhD program at Arizona State University. He has been conducting botanical field work in the Sonoran Desert Region for 20 years, with a special focus on the cactaceae. He is a co-author of A Field Guide to the Cacti and Succulents of Arizona, published by the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society. The focus of his PhD research is the population structure, population genetics and phylogeny of island endemic cacti in Baja California.
