2025-2029
Project
PalEcoTchad
Paleoecology and Paleoenvironments of
Humanity: From Chad to the Ethiopian
Rift (PalEcoTchad)
Supervisors
Funding
PalEcoTchad is a research project funded by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region for the period 2023–2028 (€123k).
Aims
Etude comparative des réponses fauniques aux changements environnementaux des bassins Tchadien (Mégalac Tchad) et Ethiopien (Vallée de l’Omo, Bassin du Turkana) au Mio-Pliocène. Analyse écomorphologique des faunes de vertébrés, avec acquisition de données originales sur les environnements et l’analyse des réponses apportées par les faunes à ces environnements (doctorat Julian Karoui Canedo).
In short
Our project capitalizes on a unique research configuration within the PALEVOPRIM laboratory, which conducts research in two key basins for the study of human evolution: the Lake Chad Basin and the Lake Turkana Basin (East Africa). These two research areas are located at the same latitude but have experienced markedly different climatic regimes and environmental histories. The Lake Chad Basin has undergone repeated alternations between desert and wetland conditions, whereas the Lake Turkana Basin has benefited from a sustained water supply driven by two monsoon systems originating over the Ethiopian Highlands. Did these contrasting environmental settings give rise to different ecological responses? Did biotic interactions follow distinct dynamics in the two basins?
Consortium
PalEcoTchad integrates research in paleontology, ecology, comparative anatomy, and 3D imaging, and is based on extensive fieldwork conducted in Chad and Ethiopia, which has resulted in the collection of thousands of fossil specimens (housed in the collections of N’Djamena and Addis Ababa). The project builds on the expertise developed within the PALEVOPRIM laboratory (F. Guy, J.-R. Boisserie, C. Blondel, J. Karoui Canedo, A. Euriat, J. Surault) and through collaborations with A. Moussa, H. T. Mackaye, A. Likius, and N. D. Clarisse (University of N’Djamena and the National Center for Research and Development), B. E. Redae (Ethiopian Heritage Authority), and the La Vallée des Singes primate park (Romagne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region; J.-P. Guéry collection, Director).
