Rossana Maguiña

Rossana defines a naturalist is someone that takes deep and considerate observations of organisms and ecosystems. Rossana Maguiña is originally from southern Peru, and first got into exploring the natural world at a young age living near the forest. She is now a PhD student at the Ecology and Marine Biology Department at UC Santa Cruz where she studies tropical plant diversity, specifically, evolution in the Costus, spiral ginger. She thinks the best way newcomers can identify as naturalists, is to just go outside and make a connection with a place or organism. In Santa Cruz, Rossana enjoys the surrounding natural beauty, and especially enjoys the tropical greenhouse at the Jean H. Langenhiem Greenhouses, which allows her to be around plants that remind her of home. One of Rossana Maguiña’s most memorable field experience happened when she was working in the Amazos. She was trekking around with her research assistant when the happened to come across the largest tree she has ever seen – it could leave your mouth gaping. It was so large it was surreal, and so they stopped to spend some time there. Rossana thinks that we can create a more diverse and inclusive naturalist environment in Santa Cruz by being more open helping to support those interested in the field with developing their career. Although many people may be interested in natural history, not many know that you can make a professional career out of being a naturalist.