Projects

AMMA 2050 (2015-2019) - African Monsoon Multi-disciplinary Analysis-2050 - Funded by NERC (UK) and UKaid (UK)

Project leader: T Warnaars

Scientists involved from our team : Y Vigouroux, A Barnaud, C Berthouly-Salazard, C Mariac, L Zekraoui

AMMA-2050 will improve understanding of how the West African monsoon will be affected by climate change in the coming decades - and help West African societies prepare and adapt.

This initiative combines observations and climate models with new, cutting edge methods to assess how the West African climate is likely to change over the coming decades. It builds on the largest multi-disciplinary research effort ever undertaken on Africa's climate and environment, the African Monsoon Multi-disciplinary Analysis (AMMA, 2003-present).

The team will investigate how physical processes interact to cause 'high impact weather events' such as storms, and heat waves that affect lives and livelihoods. Not only will they look at how the total amount of rainfall is likely to change - but also at how rainfall is likely to be distributed throughout the wet season. For example, heavy rainfall concentrated in just a few hours places great stress on human settlements, infrastructure and agriculture. By applying expert judgement, they will identify adaptation options in water resources and agriculture.

The AMMA-2050 team will work with decision makers and affected groups to jointly develop tools and approaches which can support them in using improved climate information.

Associated publications:

Diack O, Kanfany G, Gueye MC, Sy O, Fofana A, Tall H, Serba DD, Zekraoui L, Berthouly-Salazar C, Vigouroux Y, Diouf D, Kane NA (2020) GWAS unveils features between early- and late-flowering pearl millets. BMC Genomics 21:777

Rhoné B, Defrance D, Berthouly-Salazar C, Mariac C, Cubry P, Couderc M, Dequincey A, Assoumanne A, Kane NA, Sultan B, Barnaud A, Vigouroux Y (2020) Pearl millet genomic vulnerability to climate change in West Africa highlights the need for regional collaboration. Nature Communication 11:5274 

Burgarella C, Barnaud A, Kane NA, Jankowski F, Scarcelli N, Billot C, Vigouroux Y, Berthouly-Salazar C (2019) Adaptive Introgression: An Untapped Evolutionary Mechanism for Crop Adaptation. Frontiers in Plant Science 10:1-17