Nearly one in three cactus species is now at risk of extinction, and scientists are hoping a new open access database will help turn that trend around. Built by researchers at the Universities of Bath and Reading, CactEcoDB is the most detailed resource ever created on cactus ecology and evolution, giving conservationists a clearer picture of how to protect these plants before it is too late.
The cactus family, known scientifically as Cactaceae, includes about 1,850 species found across the Americas. These range from small, rounded plants to massive desert giants. While cacti are well known for their ability to survive in extreme, water-scarce environments, that resilience is being tested. Around 31% of species are currently threatened, largely due to habitat destruction, climate change, and illegal collection.
To address this, the team behind CactEcoDB spent seven years compiling data from hundreds of sources. The result is a large, open dataset covering more than 1,000 species. What makes it especially useful is how it brings together different types of information in one place, including detailed range maps, environmental and climate data, and key biological traits such as plant size, growth form, and pollination methods.
The database also includes the most extensive evolutionary family tree for cacti ever assembled, along with data on how species have diversified over time. By combining all of this, researchers now have a much stronger foundation for understanding how cacti evolved and how they might respond to future environmental changes. Ultimately, tools like this could play a crucial role in guiding conservation efforts and preventing further losses within this unique group of plants.
Dr Jamie Thompson, Leverhulme Research Fellow from the University of Reading and first author of the paper, said: "Unlike for many animal groups, there was no central curated database of cactus biodiversity until now.
"The data needed to understand their conservation, ecology and evolution have been fragmented, incomplete and difficult for researchers to access. Our database fills this critical gap and could be a really powerful tool for studying diversity."
Dr Nick Priest, from the University of Bath's Department of Life Sciences and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, said: "Cacti capture our imagination as icons of endurance and survivors of the planet's inhospitable environments, and yet they are amongst the most threatened plant families on Earth – even the giant saguaro cacti are collapsing in the Arizona summer heat.
"By bringing together this wealth of information in one place, we hope to enable new research that can ultimately support their conservation."
The new dataset greatly expands on earlier work, offering improved trait coverage, more refined growth‑form categories, expert‑verified range maps based on IUCN assessments, and the most complete phylogeny to date.
By making the resource freely available, the authors hope to support future research, especially studies integrating machine learning in the ecology, evolution and conservation of cacti. They invite the scientific community to contribute additional data as it becomes available.
One of the striking features of the database is the variability of arid climates, especially in rainfall patterns, temperature fluctuations and sand content in soil.
Dr Thompson said: "It's climatic variability that makes deserts such hostile places to live. But, the data are telling us that each group of cacti face different climatic challenges."
This body information is bound to be of interest to a range of people, including cactus enthusiasts, cultivators and conservationists.
"But, because no two deserts are alike, it is going to be tricky working out general rules for how to protect cacti from climate change," says Dr Priest. "AI could be our best hope of finding conservation strategies specific to each major group of cacti."
Source: Eureka Alert!
