People
Hopper, Stephen, D
| Job Title | Director |
|---|---|
| Department | Directorate |
| Section | |
| Science Teams |
Large-Scale Syntheses Myrtaceae Monocots II: Commelinids Monocots III: Orchids |
| Joined Kew | 2006 |
| Foreign Language(s) | English |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons 1st class, majors in botany and zoology) 1973
PhD (speciation in kangaroo paws) 1978 from The University of Western Australia
Director/CEO of Kings Park and Botanic Garden/Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, Perth, Western Australia (1992-2004)
Foundation Professor of Plant Conservation Biology, The University of Western Australia (2004-2006)
Visiting Research Professor, The University of Western Australia (2006 - )
Visiting Professor, University of Reading (2007-2010)
Fellow of the Linnaean Society (2007 - )
Corresponding Member, Botanical Society of America (2007 - )
President, Australian Systematic Botany Society (2003-2006)
Board member, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (2006 - )
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia Scientific Advisory Committee (1991 - 97), Trustee/Governor (1995 - present)
Royal Society of Western Australia, member (1980 - ), Ordinary Council Member (1985-97), Publications Committee (1991 - 1996), Vice-President (1993-95), President (1995-96), Immediate Past President (1996-97)
Role
Apart from duties as Chief Executive Officer of RBG Kew, conducts research in plant conservation biology, evolution, systematics and biogeography, with special reference to southwest Australia, global granite outcrop floras, and biodiversity on the world’s oldest landscapes.
Evolutionary, systematic and conservation research relating to the southwest Australian biodiversity hotspot. The discovery and description of 300 new Australian plant taxa has been one of the outcomes of this programme. Other major research areas include developing and testing evolutionary hypotheses on origins of plant species richness in the world’s oldest, climatically buffered infertile landscapes, elucidation of new aspects of vertebrate pollination ecology, flora conservation and conservation genetics applied to the Australian flora, and the development of collaborative international programs on the biogeography and conservation of granite outcrop floras. Volumes are in preparation on the Haemodoraceae plant family, rock plants of the world and the southwest Australian flora.
Projects
European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)
Granite outcrop plants- biogeography, evolution and conservation
Haemodoraceae - phylogenetics, biology and conservation
Old climatically-buffered infertile landscapes - evolution and conservation of biodiversity
Systematics, evolution and conservation of Australian orchids
Systematics and conservation of Western Australian Eucalypts
Selected Recent Publications
Hopper, S.D. (2007). New life for systematics. Science 316: 1097.
Brown, Dundas, P., Dixon, K.W. and Hopper, S.D. (2008). Orchids of Western Australia. University of Western Australia Press, Perth. 421pp.
Hopper, S.D. (2009). OCBILs and YODFELs: towards an integrated understanding of the evolution and conservation of biodiversity on old and young landscapes. Plant and Soil 322:49-86.
Hopper, S.D. & Lambers, H. (2009) Darwin as a plant scientist: a Southern Hemisphere perspective. Trends in Plant Science 14: 421-435.
Hopper, S.D., Smith, R.J., Fay, M.F., Manning, J.C. & Chase, M.W. (2009). Molecular phylogenetics of Haemodoraceae in the Greater Cape and Southwest Australian Floristic Regions. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 51: 19-30.
Selected Earlier Publications
Hopper, S.D. (1979). Biogeographical aspects of speciation in the south west Australian flora. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 10: 399-422.
Moran, G.F. and Hopper, S.D. (1983). Genetic diversity and the insular population structure of the rare granite rock species, Eucalyptus caesia Benth. Australian Journal of Botany 31: 161-172.
Hopper, S.D., Chappill, J.A., Harvey, M.S., and George, A.S. (eds) (1996). Gondwanan Heritage: Past, present and future of the Western Australian Biota. (Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW.)
Hopper, S.D. & Gioia, P. (2004). The Southwest Australian Floristic Region: evolution and conservation of a global hotspot of biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 35: 623-650.
Nikulinsky, P. & Hopper, S.D. (2005). Soul of the Desert. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle.
