DAAD climapAfrica Postdoc Fellow
Laboratory Knowledge of Plant Biology and Ecology
University Joseph Ki-Zerbo
Burkina Faso
Dr. Kolawolé Valère Salako is currently a lecturer and researcher at the School of Environment Planning and Management, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. Prior to joining this position, he was a postdoc at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium, and a recipient of a Wallonie-Bruxelles International Excellence Fellowship. His research focuses on biodiversity conservation, plants' response to biotic and abiotic stresses, and sustainable management of traditional agroforestry systems. In climapAfrica, his research seeks to use species distribution modelling, reciprocal transplant and common garden experiments to understand vulnerabilities of key agroforestry tree species to climate change in West – Africa. He is expected from this research to provide evidence-based guidelines to sustainably manage agroforestry species but also assist smallholder farmers to better adapt to climate change in West – Africa.
Climate change expertise and interests
- Phenotypic plasticy and local adaptation
- Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function relationship
- Species distribution modelling (SDM)
- Traits-based SDM, Agroforestry - based adaptation
Publications – (most recent)
Sinsin C.B.L., Salako K.V., Fandohan A.B., Zanvo M.G.S., Edouard K., Glèlè Kakaï R. (2021). Pattern of seedling emergence and early growth in Avicennia germinans and Rhizophora racemosa along an experimental salinity gradient. African Journal of Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12889
Mensah S., Salako K.V., Seifert T. (2020). Structural complexity and large-sized trees explain shifting species richness and carbon relationship across vegetation types. Functional Ecology 34(8): 1731-1745
Salako K.V., Vihotogbé R., Houéhanou T., Sodé I.A. Glèlè Kakaï R. (2019). Predicting the potential impact of climate change on the declining agroforestry species Borassus aethiopum Mart. in Benin: a mixture of geostatistical and SDM approach. Agroforestry Systems, 93:1513–1530. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-018-0262-2
I participate at climapAfrica because...
It offers opportunities for collaboration among African researchers as well as with German experts on topics relevant to my professional career interests.
