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Photo credit: Hank Jorgensen

Acuña cactus (Echinomastus erectocentrus acunensis) | ESA status: endangered

Acuña cactus

Even the drought-resistant acuña cactus, a plant acutely prepared for survival in the desert, is finding survival more difficult all the time.

Acuña cactus life cycle

The stocky acuña cactus grows to around 16 inches tall. Come spring, the cactus is decked out in maroon spines and a flourish of lavender, rose, or pink flowers.

Acuña cactus habitat

The cactus can be found on gravel ridges and knolls in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.

What are the threats to the Acuña cactus?

Despite their capacity for desert survival, populations of the acuña cactus are disappearing. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM) lost 95 percent of its acuña cactus population across 1,000 acres of habitat between 1991 and 2010. In populations that have been surveyed more than once, nearly 80 percent mortality has been documented, even on protected lands with ongoing efforts to manage for the cactus.

Smuggling and illegal immigration

Extensive, prolonged drought is likely responsible for most recent population declines, but this desert is “hot” in more ways than one. The OPCNM, home to the largest population of the cactus, is also a major travel corridor for smuggling and illegal immigration. Border patrol has a heavy presence in the area. Monument staff cannot get out to monitor acuña cactus without a law enforcement escort. The routes for immigration and smuggling change constantly within the monument, making it difficult to predict the effect of either human or off-road law enforcement vehicle traffic on the cactus.

Parasitism

Parasitism by the cactus weevil and cactus longhorn beetle contributes to the plant’s decline. Climate change could lengthen the breeding cycle for these insects, exacerbating the problem.

Mysterious die-off

A mysterious event in 1996 left plants in the OPCNM, the Coffeepot Mountains, and a location near Ajo uprooted and lying on the ground. Whether it was a result of intensive insect predation, thrashers (a bird), javelinas, human vandals, or something else is still unknown, but whatever it was destroyed nearly half the plants in monitored plots. In 2011, surveys again found both living and dead plants uprooted and toppled in every population visited. A large proportion of those remaining were in deteriorating health, blackening from the base upwards, and few new seedlings have been documented; seedlings depend on summer rainfall and soil moisture.

Wildlife Press: Acuña cactus