Dr. Brett Mattingly and I are excited to announce the itinerary for our 2017 Desert Ecology & Biogeography course! The field component of the class will begin with a flight from Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Hartford, CT to McCarren International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, NV. We’ll then jump in passenger vans and make a big loop through spectacular landscapes of the Mojave and Great Basin deserts. The itinerary includes hikes in famous sand dunes, nocturnal scorpion hunts, up close and personal (it’ll be the start of the breeding season) encounters with desert pupfish, a stop at the lowest point in North America, lots of desert camping, and much more! The deserts have had a lot of rain lately, which is usually a good thing when looking for arid-adapted animals. I wonder how many rattlesnakes we’ll find this year?
Scorpiophilia 