College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Dedicated to fungi

Lois Tiffany has continued her fieldwork even after retirement.
For over 50 years, Lois Tiffany has been a fixture on the Iowa State University campus.

And even though she retired a few years back, Tiffany has no plans to really call it quits.

"I enjoy what I do too much to stop," the Distinguished Professor emerita of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, says. "I have several long-term projects dealing with fungi in Iowa that can go on indefinitely.

"I'm still a workaholic and I enjoy, no, truly enjoy, doing quite a number of things that relate to my research."

One of those projects that Tiffany is actively working on is setting up a database of the fungi of Iowa. Her former graduate student Roseanne Healy is assisting Tiffany, who is a three-time Iowa State botany graduate (1945, 1947 MS and 1950 PhD).

This is the third year the pair has worked on the database, which requires extensive fieldwork. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has funded the project each year.

While they have collected samples in Hardin County, Tiffany and Healy currently work primarily in Webster County. That part of the state has several areas where fungi native to Iowa grow abundantly including Rossow Prairie, Dolliver State Park and Brushy Creek State Park. Webster County's main community (Fort Dodge) is also home to several city parks.

"We've found some fungi that have never been reported in the state before that we're going to include in the database," Tiffany said. "It's exciting to find something that you've never seen before. It's a real challenge."

Because the life expectancy of fungi above ground is only a matter of days, Tiffany and Healy must carefully plan their trips to Webster County.

"We have to be ready to go there and collect samples and Webster County is a decent driving distance from Ames," Tiffany said. "Typically the fleshy part of the fungi only lasts three days and there's no point in collecting if the species break down before you can get to them."

Tiffany says this collecting season (May through November) should be the final go-around for fieldwork for this project. The two will then go back and complete interpretations of their research.

Specimens they have collected have also been placed in the Ada Hayden Herbarium.

While the Iowa fungi database consumes a lot of Tiffany's time these days, she continues to be a highly requested resource to identify morel mushrooms. She is the author of a 10-year study in the 1980s and ‘90s on morels, a study she conducted with longtime colleagues George Knaphus and Donald Huffman of Central College.

Each spring, Tiffany typically handles calls from physicians, poison control officials, and frantic individuals who are concerned when a person eats an unknown mushroom. The individuals will describe the type of mushroom or samples of the mushroom that have been consumed are transported to her office for her identification.

And while she herself is allergic to morels, Tiffany still looks forward to the hunt.

"I enjoy going out and looking for morels," she said, "and then giving hem to someone who will appreciate them. I really still enjoy all the fieldwork I do. I just don't have the stamina I had 10 years ago."

Tiffany's stamina may have decreased but her desire for her work hasn't.

"I feel like I can still contribute," she said. "And just as important, I haven't run out of things to do yet."