René Bobe
Title — Associate Professor of Anthropology
Office — 2114 G St. 307
Lab: 2114 G St. 107
Phone — (202) 994-4223
Lab: (202) 994-7475
E-mail — bobe@email.gwu.edu
Areas of Expertise —
Biological anthropology
Paleoclimate and human evolution, paleoecology, early New World primates.
Current Research
Dr. Bobe is a biological anthropologist interested in the relationship between climatic change and evolutionary processes. He studies the environmental and ecological context of human evolution in Africa.
Ongoing Projects:
- Paleoclimate and human evolution
- Paleoecology of the Pliocene Hadar region, Dikika Research Project, Ethiopia
- Paleoecology of the lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia
- Fossil mammals, paleoecology, and paleoclimate of the Turkana Basin, Kenya
- Environmental context of the earliest South American primates, western Patagonia, Chile
Education
To see Dr. Bobe's complete CV, click here.
Ph.D. 1997, University of Washington-Seattle
B.A. 1983, Pomona College
Publications
Book
2007 Bobe, R., Z. Alemseged, and A.K. Behrensmeyer, eds. Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Dordrecht: Springer.
Selected Articles and Books Chapters
2012 Geraads, D., R. Bobe, and K. Reed. "Pliocene Bovidae (Mammalia) from the Hadar Formation of Hadar and Ledi-Geraru, Lower Awash, Ethiopia," Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32:180-197.
2011 Bobe, R. "Fossil mammals and paleoenvironments in the Omo-Turkana Basin," Evolutionary Anthropology, 20(6), 254-263,
2011 Geraads, D., Z. Alemseged, R. Bobe, and D. Reed. "Enhydriodon dikikae sp. nov. (Carnivora: Mammalia), a gigantic otter from the Pliocene of Dikika, Lower Awash, Ethiopia," Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(2): 447-453.
2010 McPherron, S., Z. Alemseged, C. Marean, J.G. Wynn, D. Reed, D. Geraads, R. Bobe, and H. Béarat. "Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia," Nature 466: 857-860.
2009 Bobe, R., M.G. Leakey. "Ecology of Plio-Pleistocene mammals in the Omo-Turkana Basin and the emergence of Homo." In Grine, F.E., J.G. Fleagle, and R.E. Leakey, eds., The First Humans: Origins of the Genus Homo, p. 173-184. Dordrecht: Springer.
2009 Alemseged, Z., R. Bobe. "Diet in early hominin species: a paleoenvironmental perspective." In Hublin, J.J., and M.P. Richards, eds., The Evolution of Hominid Diets: Integrating Approaches to the Study of Paleolithic Subsistence, p. 181-188. Dordrecht: Springer.
2007 Bobe, R., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Eck, G.G., Harris, J.M. "Patterns of abundance and diversity in late Cenozoic bovids from the Turkana and Hadar Basins, Kenya and Ethiopia." In: Bobe, R., Z. Alemseged, and A.K. Behrensmeyer, eds., Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 129-157.
2006 Alemseged, Z., Spoor, F., Kimbel, W.H., Bobe, R., Geraads, D., Reed, D., Wynn, J.G. "A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia," Nature 443, 296-301.
2006 Bobe, R. "The evolution of arid ecosystems in eastern Africa," Journal of Arid Environments 66(3), 564-584.
2006 Wynn, J., Alemseged, Z., Bobe, R., Geraads, D., Reed, D., Roman, D. Geological and palaeontological context of a Pliocene juvenile hominin at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 443, 332-336.
2004 Bobe, R., Behrensmeyer, A.K. "The expansion of grassland ecosystems in Africa in relation to mammalian evolution and the origin of the genus Homo," Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 207, 399-420.
2004 Bobe, R., A.K. Behrensmeyer, and G. Carrasco. "Paleoclima y evolución faunística en el Plio-Pleistoceno de África y América del Sur," Ameghiniana 41(4): 641-649.
Classes Taught
Anth 1001: Biological Anthropology
Anth 6412: Paleoanthropology: Hominid Paleoecology and Paleoclimate