There have been tons of reports over the last two years of Arizona's iconic saguaros being sick, reported Fox 10 Phoenix. Scientists at the Desert Botanical Garden are now trying to figure out why, and they need your help.
Tanya Hernandez, a research scientist with Desert Botanical Garden said, "People were coming to us looking for answers." This follows record high temperatures across the state and a mild monsoon season in 2020.
Hernandez explained, "Saguaros falling, entire plant or losing some arms, getting thin, getting sick." Hernandez says it likely has something to do with climate change, but they have launched a saguaro census to see exactly what's going on.
She said, "Get to know how many saguaros we ave in what shape they are, how healthy they are, where they are."
Counting all of the saguaros in the state is a huge job, so the Botanical Garden is getting help from the community of scientist using the app iNaturalist.
The team is also asking people to volunteer their saguaros for science. "The next step is we're asking people to volunteer their plants," Hernandez said. "If you have a saguaro and want to volunteer it for science let us know, [we're] gonna take samples, measurements and monitor these plants."
Click here for more information on the saguaro census.