Oct. 8, 2001 Media Advisory To: News Directors and News Editors From: Veronika Brown, Media Coordinator, 342-5444 SEMINAR ON ANIMAL LIFE IN THE DESERT THIS THURSDAY The University of Louisiana at Monroe Museum of Natural History (Zoology) invites you to attend the Fall Seminar in Natural History, "Life at the Oasis: Animal Communities of Desert Wetlands." The speaker will be Dr. Jan Hoover of the US Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, MS. Dr. Hoover, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, is an aquatic biologist specializing in fish ecology. The sandy arid landscape of the Chihuahuan Desert appears inhospitable to aquatic life, but recent field surveys of the isolated wetlands of Southeast New Mexico indicate otherwise. More than 80 species of animals were recently collected from the small oases that dot the Tularosa Basin. In this seminar, Jan Hoover talks about the crustacean, insects, fishes, and amphibians that inhabit this harsh environment and why the aquatic communities of these mysterious waters are important. The seminar will be Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Welcome Room at Biedenharn Museum and Gardens. The Seminar and refreshments are free. For more information: contact the ULM Department of Pure and Applied Sciences at 342-1750 -ulm-