Mes recherches portent sur l’évolution des communautés de petits mammifères d’Afrique depuis la fin du Pliocène jusqu’à aujourd’hui. J’aborde plus particulièrement des questions concernant la taxinomie des rongeurs, et l’utilisation des assemblages fossiles à des fins de reconstruction paléoenvironnementale et d’outil biochronologique.

Pour y répondre, j’utilise différentes approches combinant mes connaissances en paléontologie, en anatomie et en écologie, ainsi que des outils de morphométrie géométrique et de machine learning.

Les assemblages que j’étudie proviennent principalement d’Afrique du Sud et du Botswana, et j’aimerais prochainement comparer les structures et dynamiques des communautés d’Afrique australe avec celles d’Afrique du Nord et de l’Est.

My research addresses the role of predation and competition pressure between hominin and carnivore and their fundamental roles in the evolution of the paleoecological status of Hominins (from prey and opportunistic collector to predator).

My research fields include bone assemblages from various chronological phases: Plio-Pleistocene of Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique) and Holocene from Eastern Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti).

Thesis title: Dynamics of the Okavango rift system (Botswana): couplings between geodynamics, climate, and impact on the ecosystem.

Description of the research project: My research focuses on the ground deformation of the Okavango Rift Zone (northern Botswana) and its impact on the Okavango Delta system. The objective is to better understand the different processes at play in this region, such as tectonic activity due to the propagation of the East African Rift System, sedimentary processes and the flexural response of the crust to hydrological processes. To do so, I use a multidisciplinary approach combining geomorphological field studies, remote sensing (mainly based on topographic, InSAR and SAR data) and GPS data.

Framework: This research project results from the collaboration of four laboratories: Geosciences Rennes, LETG Rennes, the Okavango Research Institute (Botswana University) and ITES Strasbourg.

My research focuses on the subsistence behaviors of Plio-Pleistocene hominins, in particular the role of hunting, scavenging and the use and consumption of animal resources during the evolution of the human lineage.

For this, I study bone assemblages mainly from South Africa and Angola. I am also undertaking field research in Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Tectonic, climate and biology of the Okavango Delta (Botswana).

The Okavango Delta is the world second largest internal delta after the Niger central delta. Situated within north Botswana, the natural resources of the Okavango Delta sustain a flourishing tourist industry and a major part of the local population. The Delta is one of the main intracontinental wetland zone in the world. In that respect it is strongly dependent on annual flood cycles in a huge drainage area encompassing three countries (Angola, Namibia and Botswana), itself impacted by climate change.

The Okavango project aims at building a new model of the long-term morpho-sedimentary evolution of the Delta. It should allow a better understanding of the hydrogeological systems both in terms of geometry, chemical pattern and sensibility to climate change.

This project is supported by a CNRS International Emerging Action, a PhD grand from University Rennes 1 and somme support from the INSU Tellus program. It continues from an initial mapping of the tectonic structure of the Okavango Rift and a GPS-based analysis of the active deformation financed by Tellus-Rift and coordinated by O. Dauteuil (Géosciences Rennes).

CONGO / NILE basins relationship and Tanganyika Lake watershed evolution.