David Yetman is a research social scientist at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona. His research has focused on peoples and plants of the Sonoran Desert region. His books include The Great Cacti: Ethnobotany and Biogeography and The Organ Pipe Cactus. He is producer and host of the PBS television series In the Americas with David Yetman.

Alberto Búrquez is a researcher at the Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His research focuses on plant-animal interactions, biogeography, and the ecology of dryland plants.

Kevin Hultine is a research ecologist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and the School of Earth & Sustainability at Northern Arizona University. His research focuses on the ecology, physiology, and climate sensitivity of dryland plants.

Michael Sanderson is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on genomics and evolutionary biology of plants (including cacti), with a special interest in computational methods and challenges.