Expertise
I am a researcher at IRD (UMR AMAP, Montpellier) working on the diversity, distribution and functioning of tropical African forests, with a focus on Central Africa, where I spent four years based in Cameroon.
My work combines field botany with large-scale data synthesis. I develop and curate biodiversity databases, from herbarium-based occurrence data (e.g. RAINBIO, a continental database of tropical African plant distributions) to tree-level data from networks of permanent forest plots (Cafriplot). I use these data to describe floristic and diversity patterns, delimit phytogeographic regions, and assess species’ conservation status following IUCN criteria.
I also study tree functional traits, in particular wood density and its variation within trees and species, to improve how we understand and estimate forest structure and biomass. My earlier work addressed the spatial structuring of genetic and species diversity in Central African rainforests.
A strong part of my activity is building open, reproducible tools in R for managing and analysing forest and botanical data (including ConR for preliminary conservation assessments and cafriplotsR for permanent plot data). I work closely with partners in Cameroon and elsewhere in Central Africa, as well as with botanical institutions in Europe and the US.
Mentoring and training are central to my work. I supervise and co-supervise students [Master’s and PhD], mainly from Central African universities such as the Université de Yaoundé I, on topics ranging from forest inventories and plant taxonomy to functional traits and data analysis. I train students and partners in field methods during plot installation and remeasurement campaigns, and I run workshops on data management and analysis in R, including the R2FAC training workshops in Douala. My aim is to strengthen local capacity to collect, manage and publish forest data, and to support early-career researchers in leading their own projects.