[This is one section of the article, "Behind the Scenes in Arts and Sciences."]

Visit Ellen Duffield’s office in Hitchcock Hall, and you’ll find yourself distracted by her collection of algae. Glass jars line the shelves, filled with Ventricaria—resembling luminous green bubbles—and Acrosorium, a tangle of thin red strands, as well as other plants.

“I think they’re really beautiful,” says Duffield, whose official title is Culture Curator for the Department of Botany. “But more than that, they are such an important part of the world we live in. Algae produce about half the oxygen and fix half the carbon in the world. And fungi are great recyclers—if a tree falls down, they get in there and turn it into soil.”

Duffield wants students to share her fascination with these small, simple organisms. That’s why she spends her days growing and maintaining Botany’s extensive collection of algae and fungi, which are used in undergraduate laboratory classes to illustrate their form, function, and development.

Caring for a collection of 200 algae and 200 fungi—used by about 2,000 students in 20 different classes each year—is no simple task. “It’s sort of like managing a zoo,” says Duffield. “Each organism has its own diet, light, temperature needs, and reproductive cycle. For classes, you have to have them at the right point so that students can observe the reproductive process. A lot of my job is scheduling.”

The specimens are stored in five growth chambers, each kept at a different temperature. Five smaller chambers serve as a backup in the event of a power failure. With some specimens dating back more than 40 years, such precautionary measures are essential.

Duffield’s job does have its glamorous moments, like days spent collecting horse dung in Snohomish County or afternoons spent collecting dead flies from windowsills in Johnson Hall. No wonder she’s stayed for more than 20 years.

Turns out, dead flies and horse dung are terrific media for growing certain fungi. When horses eat grass in the field, they also consume spores of Pilobolus, a fungus. The spores remain in the dung and soon sprout if the dung is kept in a moist plastic container.

“Within a week, you can start to see the fungi growing—clear stalks with black tips that shoot out more spores,” says Duffield. “To use them in class, it’s important to get the dung fresh every time.”

How do students respond to these samples? “They always say ‘ick’ at first,” admits Duffield. “But before long the ‘ick’ factor gets taken over by interest.” And that, she says, is what makes her work worthwhile.

“Our algae and fungi samples allow students to see things people don’t normally see,” says Duffield. “It really gives them a sense of the biodiversity in nature. I find that most people, given the opportunity, really want to know what is out there in this world.”

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[Summer 2002 - Table of Contents]