Rare Tree Cactus Goes Extinct in Florida a Grim First for Sea Level Rise
In a heartbreaking first for the United States, a rare species of tree cactus has gone extinct in Florida due to rising sea levels. The Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii), which was confined to a single population in the Florida Keys, is now lost.
The Key Largo tree cactus was first discovered in 1992 in the Florida Keys, a chain of islands off the southern tip of the state. Since its discovery, researchers have monitored its population intermittently. However, saltwater intrusion from rising seas, soil erosion from storms and high tides, and herbivory by mammals put immense pressure on this delicate species.
Once thriving with around 150 stems in an isolated mangrove forest, the population had dwindled to just six fragile fragments by 2021. Researchers made a last-dit...
