Visiting Fellow
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
(College of Asia and the Pacific)

Professional Background

Geoff Hope has recently ceased to be a Professor of Natural History in the Department of Archaeology and Natural History, ANU. He completed his PhD and a Queen Elizabeth Fellowship on the post-glacial history of the high New Guinea Mountains and was appointed a Lecturing Fellow in the Department of Geography, ANU in 1978. He joined the Department of Biogeography and Geomorphology as Senior Fellow in 1990 and was head of the Department if Archaeology and Natural History from 1998-2003.

Research and Teaching Interests

My principal field of interest is in the vegetation history Australian, Asian and Pacific biota and its response to climate change and variability. A related speciality is the effects of prehistoric people on their environment. Current research is directed to understanding climate and anthropogenic interactions in the Bass Strait region, western Pacific islands, montane New Guinea, Indonesia and Myanmar. I am also interested in developing new techniques for palaeoenvironmental analysis using carbonised particles, diatoms and opaline phytoliths. I am currently developing pollen and other microfossil databases for the south west Pacific region. I am also working on peatland processes and fire histories in relation to the SE Australian fires of 2003 and longer term climate controls on fire.

Notable Publications

Hope, G.S. 1989. Climatic implications of timberline changes in Australasia from 30,000 BP to present, Pp 91-99 in T. Donnelly and R. Wasson (eds.), CLIMANZ 3. Canberra, C.S.I.R.O., Div. Water Resources.

Hope, G.S., Flannery, T.F. and Boeardi. 1993. A preliminary report of changing Quaternary mammal faunas in subalpine New Guinea. Quaternary Research, 40, 117-126.

Hope, G.S. and Tulip, J. 1994. A long vegetation history from lowland Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109, 385-398.

Hope, G.S. 2001. Environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and later Holocene at Wanda Site, Soroako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 171, 129-145.

Hope, G.S., Chokkalingam, U. and Anwar, S. 2005. The stratigraphy and fire history of the Kutai Peatlands, Kalimantan, Indonesia. Quaternary Research 64, 407-417.

Hope, G. S., Sun, X. Liew, P-M., Kershaw, A.P., van der Kaars, W.A., Takahara, H., McGlone, M., Heusser L.E. and Miyoshi, N. 2004. History of vegetation and habitat change from the PEP II transect. PEP II transect Volume, eds J.R. Dodson and D. Taylor Quaternary International 118-119, 103-126.

Prentice, M.L., Hope, G.S., Maryunani, K. and Peterson J.A. 2005. An evaluation of snowline data across New Guinea during the last major glaciation, and area-based glacier snowlines in the Mt. Jaya region of Papua, Indonesia, during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary International 138-139, 93–117.

Donders, T.H., Haberle, S.G., Hope, G.S., Wagner, F. and Visscher, H. 2007. Transition of the eastern Australian climate system from the post-glacial to the present day ENSO mode. Quaternary Science Reviews. 26, 1621-1637.

Prentice, M. and Hope, G.S. 2007. Climate of Papua Pp 177-195 in A. J. Marshall and B. M. Beehler, (Eds.), The Ecology of Papua. Singapore, Periplus Editions.

Hope, G.S. and Clark, R.L. 2008. A tale of two swamps: subalpine peatlands in the Kelly-Scabby area of Namadgi National Park. Pp. 61-76 in eds. K. McCue and S. Lenz, Corridors for Survival in a Changing World. National Parks Assoc. ACT, Canberra.

Mackey B.G. Watson J.E.M., Hope, G.S. and Gilmore, S. 2008. Climate change, biodiversity conservation, and the role of protected areas: an Australian perspective. Biodiversity 9(3&4), 11-18.

Hope G.S. 2009. Environmental change and fire in the Owen Stanley Ranges, Papua New Guinea. Quaternary Science Reviews DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.04.012

Core Research Capability

Vegetational response to perturbations across Asia Pacific using pollen analysis.