Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) are Among the Iconic Species of the Sonoran Desert!
My first upper division course in college (fall 2017) was called “Natural Resources Ecology” (RNR 316). One of the reasons why it was one of the best classes I’d ever taken was because of the chance I had to conduct my own research with regard to phenology. Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring plant, animal, and microbe life cycle stages (“phenophases”) in response to weather and climate. The professor let each student pick a research question and then apply the scientific method accordingly to answer it. Moreover, the data we utilized for our studies came from the National Phenology Network (NPN), an organization headquartered at the University of Arizona and largely reliant on citizen science. Thus, while working on our individual projects, my class had the opportunity to contribute to the institution’s database through taking weekly observations of tagged plants on campus. I chose to focus my efforts primarily on one of the saguaro cacti located in the university’s Joseph Wood Krutch Garden with the goal of discovering what effect temperature and precipitation had had on its flowering and fruiting phenophases in the past four years. Attached below is the report I wrote.
Sitting in Front of a (not-so-good-looking) Saguaro
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that anyone can participate in collecting observations that will aid in nationwide research through simply downloading the NPN app onto a phone (though be sure to only do so AFTER online registration). The process involves creating an account and then selecting the site(s) at which you will make observations. Notes can then be made for any of the species found at your chosen spot, including presence/number of flowers, fruits, and leaves for plants, and activity logs for animals, among many others.