Our new paper on “Floristic evidence for alternative biome states in tropical Africa” is now published in PNAS! Using tree species lists from 753 sites in forest and savanna, and paleo-ecological data from central Africa, we provided evidence that forest and savanna represent alternative biome states in floristic composition. Adeline Fayolle and I both analyzed the […]
Planting a billion trees to mitigate climate change: a simplistic solution to a complex issue
In July 2019, a paper published in Science claimed that global tree planting could capture 205 gigatons of carbon, or one-third of the carbon dioxide emitted since the industrial revolution. These numbers were so large that headlines around the world declared tree planting to be the best solution to climate change. In a technical comment published […]
Interview at Radio Canada on reforestation in Ethiopia
I have been interviewed at Midi Info, Radio Canada, to talk about reforestation in Ethiopia. You can find the podcast here.
Fire Special Issue: Land-Use and Fire around the World from the Past to the Present

A special issue of Fire (ISSN 2571-6255) http://mdpi.com/journal/fire/special_issues/paleofire Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2019 Dear Colleagues, Human–fire interactions have, in many parts of the world, a long-lasting and pervasive influence on natural ecosystems. The naturalness of those ecosystems is thus questioned until evidence of human action on fire regimes have been unequivocally proven by […]
First dissertation chapter of PhD student Andy Hennebelle just published in Forest Ecology and Management!
Great paper just published by Andy Hennebelle et al. in Forest Ecology and Management: Using paleoecology to improve reference conditions for ecosystem-based management in western spruce-moss subdomain of Québec.
Reply in PNAS: Paleoclimatic changes are the most probable causes of the rainforest crises 2,600 y ago in Central Africa
Our reply to Garcin et al. 2018 (Early anthropogenic impact on Western Central African rainforests 2,600 y ago) was just published, check it out: Paleoclimatic changes are the most probable causes of the rainforest crises 2,600 y ago in Central Africa.
New paper published in Global Ecology and Biogeography!
Check here our last paper with Carla on the spatial patterns in the global distributions of savanna and forest!
New technical report from the Montreal GPWG2 workshop published in EOS!
Check here one of the report from the GPWG2 workshop held in Montreal in Octobre 2017, written by Marion Lestienne!
New paper in The Conversation!

Here is a piece in The Conversation about our new paper recently published in Nature Ecology & Evolution regarding updated deforestation rates in Africa since 1900: Deforestation in tropical Africa is not as bad as previously through.
Sparking new opportunities for charcoal-based fire history reconstructions

Our new Perspective is now published in the first issue of Fire! This paper is a product of the last GPWG2 workshop held in Montréal last October, and organized by Olivier Blarquez with the financial support of PAGES and UdeM. Thanks to all the workshop participants for the awesome discussions!