Educational record:
1999 Ph.D. University
of Illinois (Urbana campus)
1975-1977 N. S. F. traineeship (University
Fellow)
1975 MS University of Illinois
(Urbana campus)
1970 BA Dordt College, Sioux Center,
Iowa cum laude
Teaching areas Biology for the non major, human (organismal) emphasis
Publications
Mahaffy, J.F., 2001. The case for relict populations of the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis) in Sioux County, Iowa. Manuscript will be on file with Doug Harr of the Iowa DNR at the Wildlife Research Station in Boone, Iowa.
Mahaffy, J.F., 1999. Profile patterns and their paleoecological interpretation in the Herrin (No. 6) Coal Member at Old Ben No. 24 mine (Franklin County, Illinois) (abst.). 32 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists. (Savannah, Georgia).
Mahaffy, J.F., 1999. Vegetational patterns in the Herrin and Springfield coals (Middle Pennsylvanian of Illinois), based on miospore profiles with comparison to coal-ball patterns. Ph.D. Thesis University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 211 p.
Mahaffy, J.F., 1998 (Spring issue). Great demo with mites. MABT (Massachusetts Association of Biology Teachers) News p.5.
Mahaffy, J.F., 1988. Vegetational history of the Springfield Coal (Middle Pennsylvanian of Illinois) and distribution patterns of a tree-fern miospore, Thymospora pseudothiessenii, based on miospore profiles. Int. J. Coal Gel. 10:239-260.
Mahaffy, J.F., 1985, Profile patterns of coal and peat palynology in the Herrin (No. 6) Coal Member, Carbondale Formation, Middle Pennsylvanian of Southern Illinois. Compte Rendu, Ninth International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology, May 17-26, 1979, Washington and Champaign-Urbana, IL., V.5:25-34.
DiMichele, W.B., Mahaffy, J.F., and. Phillips, T.L., 1979. Lycopods of Pennsylvanian age coals: Polysporia, Can. J. of Bot., 57(16): 1740-1753.
Mahaffy, J.F., 1976. Philosophical presuppositions used in systematizing the fossil data, Given at annual ASA meeting (Wheaton, Ill.).
Mahaffy, J.F. 1975. Morphology of Microspermopteris
and occurrences in Middle Pennsylvanian Coal Balls, Bot. Soc. of Amer.
Abst. p.22
Work in progress:
Manuscript stage
Bakker, K.,* Schut, K.,* Mahaffy, J.F., and Pung, O.** Absence of Trypanosoma cruzi in raccoons and an opossum in Northwest Iowa. (*Undergraduate Research project at Dordt College, **Georgia Southern University)
Mahaffy, J.F. Historic and recent evidence for rattlesnakes (most likely the prairie rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis viridis and possibly the massasauga, Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) in Monona and southernmost Woodbury County from the area of the Loess Hills in NW Iowa: A preliminary report.
Mahaffy, J.F., Profile patterns and their paleoecological interpretation in the Herrin (No. 6) Coal Member at Old Ben No. 24 mine (Franklin County, Illinois)
Mahaffy, J.F., Comparison of coal ball
and miospore deposition using R-Ratios in an Upper Carboniferous Coal.
Current research projects
(Many in collaboration with undergraduate students)
Helping uncover and report a ichthyodectid fish found in the Greenhorn Formation of Cretaceous age in the hills near the town of Westfield, Iowa. Since there are few vertebrates found in the Iowa exposure of the Cretaceous, this is a significant find.
Description with Stan Oordt (the finder) of parts of a musk ox skull and some other Pleistocene bones from a local quarry. Several of the fossil bones from this quarry have been identified with the help of some paleontologists at the University of Nebraska. After determining the Pleistocene stratigraphy (most likely from the last glaciation, late Wisconsian, but possibly earlier), we should be ready to write up this manuscript.
Report of a Pliosaurid tooth from the Cretaceous (Greenhorn Fm.) of NW Iowa. This tooth was found by one of my paleontology students, Ben Van Ee on a field trip in 1996. The tooth was identified with the help of Dr. Gordon Bell of the South Dakota School of Mines. Since few vertebrate fossils have been reported from this area, we plan to report the find as a short note in one of the paleontological journals.
Investigation of the habitat and growth forms of Fritschiella. This algae was identified in one of the unialgal cultures that students collect for Plant Morphology. We are investigating to see if we can cause it to change its growth form under different conditions (still and moving water) and are trying to find this rare algae again in the wild, so we can learn more about in its local habitat and ecology.
Expanding range of Felis concolor. I have been investigating reports that mountain lion have moved into the area along the Sioux and possibly Rock rivers in western border of Iowa and southeast South Dakota.
Investigating the range of the Prairie rattler (Crotalus viridis) in NW Iowa. I have been following up on reports that seem to have some substance of the snake being found in short-grass relict prairie in counties both north and south of the known locality in Plymouth near Westfield in Plymouth County, Iowa. Since the Westfield location is the easternmost extend of the known range and the only place the snake has been proven to exist in Iowa (where it is endangered), these reports would be on interest to the state and the herpetological community of they prove to be true. A Dordt biology student, Ryan Verver, helped in the early investigation as an individual research project. In the food plains of the Little Sioux River, I have found that there were rattlesnakes in wet meadows. The habitat of these are more suggestive of the massasauga than the prairie rattler. Unfortunately habitat changes due to agriculture have probably resulted in this population (whichever rattler it is) being extirpated. In the summer I wrote up two manuscripts on this study which are or will be on file with the Iowa DNR.
Eating habits of Rana pipiens.
This
project started a number of years ago with the finding of a whole field
mouse in the stomach of a frog being dissected in Zoology Class. Since
that time, I have tracked the stomach contents of the frogs dissected in
Zoology lab, and have found a variety of interesting remains in their stomachs.
Professional Service
Major Dordt College committee assignments include Curriculum Committee from 1986-1995 and a committee on student life, Spiritual Activities Committee for many years (Chairperson for a year).
Maintain a number of the Biology Department's web pages .
Initiated and currently maintain a list (acg-l) for the Affiliation of Christian Geologists on the Internet with approximately 85 subscribers worldwide. I also maintain the list (acb-l) for the affiliation of Christian Biologists.
Assisted faculty members in the development of their computer skills
Have given a variety of presentations to
school groups (elementary through high school), college parents, and radio
commentaries on Sioux Center radio station KDCR.
Professional Memberships and Subscriptions
AASP (American Association of Stratigraphic
Palynologists)
BSA (Botanical Society of America - Paleobotany
Section)
SEPM (Society of Economic Paleontologist
and Mineralogists)
Sigma Xi (Inactive member)
American Scientific Affiliation
Paleobiology (Subscribe to the journal)
Evolutionary Theory and Review (Subscribe
to the journal)
Paleonet (the professional list for paleontologists)
Biolab (a list related to college biology
lab teaching)
Modified on August 15, 2001 (1:43PM)