1. Saguaros: The Crowned Jewel of the Sonoran Desert

2. Do Saguaros Grow Older on the East or West Side of the Tucson Mountains?

3. Our Hypothesis
Null: There is no correlation between the side of the mountain, east or west, and age.
Alternative: Saguaros on the West side will generally live to be older because they are not exposed to as much sunlight than those on the East side.

4. Importance Humans moving farther into the desert. Loosing habitat.
Conservation increasingly important.
To know what areas or regions will be better to conserve.

5. Background Information
Saguaro Cacti (cereus giganteus)
Slow Growth
Sprout at 75 years
Mature at yrs
Oldest, up to 200 yrs
More than 5 Arms
Shallow Root System

6. Objective:
To determine if the geographical location of a Saguaro cactus on a mountain has any effect on the age reached.

7. Technique: Observed number of arms on each saguaro.
On East & West Side of Tucson Mountain.
Hiked and Counted 500 cacti on each slope
Compiled our results into data.

8. WEST SLOPE

9. Cacti Counting

10. EAST SLOPE

11. DATA WEST SLOPE 0 Arms - 165 1 Arm - 45 2 Arms - 89 3 Arms - 90
EAST SLOPE
0 Arms - 253
1 Arm - 41
2 Arms - 66
3 Arms - 82
4 Arms - 62

12. East Slope vs. West Slope

13. Calculations WEST SIDE 0 Arms - 200 1 or more Arms - 304 EAST SIDE
39.7%
1 or more Arms
60.3%
EAST SIDE
0 Arms - 253
50.2%
1 or more Arms - 251
49.8%

14. Results Reject null Hypothesis Accept Alternative Hypothesis
Grow older on West Side of Mountain

15. Overview
Reasons why we think Saguaros grow older on the West Side of Tucson Mountain.
Less Sunlight
Conserve Water Loss
Farther from City Population
Less Detrimental to Saguaros, from Smog, Pollution, etc.

16. Attack of the killer Cacti