At the Wild Animal Park on Tuesday, we caught up with Christa Horn, the Research Technician, Katie Merrill, the Intern, and Bryan Andress (pictured), the Division Head of Applied Plant Ecology, to learn about their cactus project.

The cacti these researchers are studying provide protection for the Punona California Catchers. These birds will not nest in the cacti unless they are at least three feet tall. Unfortunately, a great many of the cacti were destroyed in the recent fires that swept through southern California.

These researchers have devised an experiment to test if cacti that are hand-raised will grow faster than cacti that are left to fend for themselves. At the same time, they are testing if cacti that are planted straight up and down will grow faster than cacti that are planted horizontally.

There are two areas of cacti: the hand-raised set is potted and located near their offices, the other set is found out on an unused area of the Park. Eventually, the potted cacti will also have homes next to the other set of cacti.

We were able to help them with their research by recording the health of some of the cacti. Heidi and Caitlin are pictured examining the health, roots, and new pads of the cacti.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.