University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK)

Since coming to Maine in 1976, Steve Selva, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, has established an active research program in lichenology that has focused on Using Lichens to Assess Ecological Continuity in Northeastern Forests and the taxonomy and ecology of Calicioid Lichens and Fungi in Northern New England and Maritime Canada. Steve's contributions to the field of lichenology have been documented in a series of research reports and publications, and have been cited by others in a number of related studies. He has also prepared a photo gallery of Stubble Lichens Under the Microscope and bibliographies of The Lichen Literature of Maine and The Lichen Literature of New Hampshire. The University of Maine at Fort Kent's Lichen Herbarium (UMFK) houses the largest collection of lichens in Maine. It includes the largest collection of calicioid lichens and fungi in northeastern North America as well as the world's largest assemblage of lichens from the old-growth forests of northeastern North America's Acadian Forest Ecoregion. Field data for the entire collection is currently being downloaded into a comprehensive Lichen Database designed and implemented by Steve's colleague, Raymond Albert, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Visitors may search the database online using several user-friendly interfaces.
Contacts: Steven Selva, Director, sselva@maine.edu
Collection Type: Preserved Specimens
Management: Data snapshot of local collection database
Last Update: 24 October 2014
Digital Metadata: EML File
Collection Statistics
  • 46,970 specimen records
  • 751 (2%) georeferenced
  • 13,985 (30%) identified to species
  • 47 families
  • 138 genera
  • 449 species
  • 464 total taxa (including subsp. and var.)
Extra Statistics