Examining Changes in Desert Ecosystems

The decline of amphibians and reptiles in the Colorado and Mojave deserts and the ramifications for desert ecosystems will be among the issues examined at a conference sponsored by the Southwestern Herpetologists Society at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Feb. 17 and 18.

Keynote speaker Howard E. Lawler of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and other prominent researchers in the field will address such topics as saving California’s endangered tortoise, the ecology and evolution of North American desert reptiles and specific types of reptiles and amphibians.

More than 100 live reptiles and amphibians native to North American deserts will also be exhibited at the museum, including a Gila monster and beaded lizard, the only two venomous lizards in North America, three species of desert tortoise and many types of rattlesnakes.

Preregistration deadline is Wednesday; late registration is slightly higher. Call (213) 744-3371 or (213) 399-4621.

ENVIRONMENT

Environmental issues will be the focus of a unique interdisciplinary class, “Living on Planet Earth,” beginning Feb. 12 at Santa Monica College. The class will address the issues from scientific, psychological and literary perspectives. Call (213) 313-9331.

MAMMALS

Students between the ages of 15 and 21 can learn about the wide variety of Southern California mammals and habitats in a seminar taught by Sarah George, assistant curator of mammals, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County beginning Saturday. Call (213) 744-6912.

ASTRONOMY

The Hubble Space Telescope will be the topic of the Santa Monica College Planetarium feature show Friday and Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. The feature program follows the 7 p.m. Night Sky Show. Call (213) 452-9223.

Rancho Santiago College’s Tessman Planetarium program will explore the birth, life and death of stars Sundays at 2 p.m. throughout February. Call (714) 667-3097.

Current research and future plans for the Mt. Wilson Observatory will be the focus of a program sponsored by the astronomy club of the Santa Clarita Valley on Feb. 10, 7 p.m. at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center. Call (805) 259-3284 or (818) 362-1175.

SCIENCE FOR CHILDREN

Whale migration season is in full swing again and the Los Angeles Children’s Museum has organized a whale watching trip designed with children in mind. Museum staff members will accompany the youngsters aboard a 90-foot sailing ship into San Pedro Channel on Feb. 10. Reservations must be made by Saturday. Call (213) 687-8801.

The Westside Arts Center also will note the whale migration with a special program on Saturday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Members of Heal the Bay will talk with children about the whale’s environment.

On Feb. 11, the center will explore the world of a different kind of migrating animal, the Monarch butterfly, in a field trip to the Santa Monica Mountains for children and their families ages 5 to adult. Two three-hour trips are scheduled, at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Reservations are required for both programs. Call (213) 395-1443.

ORNITHOLOGY

Audubon Society member Richard Kust will discuss the migratory birds and the native species of the local wetlands, bays and estuaries in an illustrated lecture at the Cabrillo Marine Museum on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Call (213) 548-7563.

SCIENCE POLICY

Ethical and policy problems arising from human genetic information and the diagnosis of disease will be discussed by Thomas Caskey, director of the Department of Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, in a seminar on the Human Genome Initiative at Caltech’s Baxter Lecture Hall on Thursday at 4 p.m. Call (818) 356-4087.