Dr.Steven Newmaster

Dr. Steven Newmaster was appointed Herbarium Director by the CBS and OAC college in 2003. He is transforming the Herbarium into a modern collection and biodiversity research facility in a new location on campus at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO). The new facility includes compactor shelving for over 300,000 specimens and a molecular taxonomy lab. Dr. Newmaster leads a curatorial team in building collections and conducting research in taxonomy, floristic diversity, invasive species biology and ethnobotany. The Herbarium is launching Ontario's first flora in 2005, named the Flora Ontario Integrated Botanical Information system (FOIBIS), which includes the Ontario Invasive Species Information System (OIPIS).

Accomplishments:
Steve is author of more than 30 publications including the new released Flora Ontario, several botanical field guides such as Wetland plants of Ontario, several book chapters, more than a dozen Journal articles on biodiversity and several government reports on ecosystem management and conservation. He is currently working on over 20 generic treatments and 4 family treatments for the Flora of North America (FNA) Project, with the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and writing books on bryophytes and ethnobotany. His research program, the "Floristic Diversity Research Group" (FDRG) has generated over $3 million dollars in biodiversity research. The FDRG is well situated within the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) OAC Herbarium here they conduct research in the patterning of floristic diversity, anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity, taxonomy, invasive species biology and ethnobotany. Accomplishments of the FDRG include the development of the Flora Ontario Integrated Botanical Information Service (FOIBIS), The Ontario Invasive Plant Information Service (OIPIS), a digital identification system for plants Polyclavis© (Newmaster & Ragupathy 2004), a new sampling methodology for biodiversity studies "Floristic Habitat Sampling" (Newmaster et al. 2005) and front-line research on a molecular identification system for plants with the internationally recognized Barcode of Life Network.