24 May Introduction: Gabriel mogollon

Hello everyone! My name is Gabriel Mogollon. I’m from Tucson, Arizona and I’m the LHIP intern at Saguaro National Park. I go to Tufts University in Massachusetts. I am a pre-Law student and I’m majoring in Environmental Engineering. Growing up in the Sonoran Desert, I have always been curious about our many unique cacti! This summer I have the good fortune to get to work with two amazing and special cacti living here in Tucson at Saguaro National Park. I’m conducting surveys on the Night-Blooming Cereus, a cactus that blooms just once a year with a beautiful white flower, to learn more about its unique adaptations to the desert as well as quantitative information about it. I am also conducting surveys on the namesake of Saguaro National park, the Saguaro. The Saguaro is a one of a kind cactus in the Carnegie genus that can grow up to 24 meters tall! It has amazing flowers that bloom as the monsoons, or summer rains, come to bring life to the desert. I will be collecting quantitative data on the blooming of the Saguaro; more specifically the completely unknown nature of side blooms (i.e. flowers blooming along the sides of the saguaro rather than on its crown). I can’t wait t0 keep working with park staff, other interns at the park and members of the LHIP community. I hope everyone’s first week was as exciting as mine!