By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Wolves, dinosaurs and rainforests will be the topics of discussion during this year's Barrows Lecture Series at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Three renowned research scientists involved in environmental conservation will be featured speakers for the series, which kicks off tonight at 7:30 at the Cintas Center Schiff Family Conference Center on the Xavier University campus. Tickets are $12; $10 for zoo members and $8 for students.

Tonight's featured speaker is Mike Phillips, executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund. His talk, "Wolves, Falcons and Trout: A Private Effort to Save Nature," will describe efforts to restore the Mexican wolf, aplomado falcon and cutthroat trout to their native ranges.

Thane Maynard, vice president at the zoo, said a fourth lecture will be added later.

"The zoo is a place where we really try to get people engaged with wildlife and conservation," Maynard said. "There's nothing like hearing from the horse's mouth. These are the very best minds in the world involved with field biology, conservation and scientific research."

The other two speakers will be:

• Meg Lowman, rainforest ecologist, who will talk about conservation initiatives in tropical rainforests. She speaks April 29.

• Jack Horner, a world-famous paleontologist credited with the discovery of the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, will speak June 3. Horner has been technical adviser for the movies Jurassic Park and The Lost World. His work focuses on dinosaur behavior and ecology. He has been featured in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report and National Geographic.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com