DAAD climapAfrica Postdoc Fellow
CERAAS - Regional Study Center for the Improvement of Adaptation to Drought
Senegal
Ahmadou Sow is a post-doc researcher in entomology and ecology for the Regional Study Center for Enhanced Drought Adaptation (CERAAS) in Thiès, Senegal. He enrolled for a Ph.D. in 2015 and defended his thesis on molecular and insect ecology (molecular biology and ecology) in 2019, entitled “A Molecular and Ecological Approach to Evaluation of the Natural Regulation Processes of the Millet Head Miner, Heliocheilus Albipunctella De Joannis, in the Senegal Groundnut Basin.” at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar. This thesis was primarily focused on the entomology and ecology (environment) of millet pests and their natural predators. He is currently conducting post-doctoral research focused on climate change and, specifically, cropping systems co-design with farmers. His research focuses on developing innovative approaches to sustainable pest management in the face of climate change. He is part of the Fair-Sahel project (Fostering Agro-ecological Intensification to Improve Farmers’ Resilience). The project aims to design agro-ecological crop systems for Senegal’s sustainable crop pest management, based on innovative farming practices that improve local and regional soil fertility and biological activity.
Climate change expertise and interests
Pest crops natural regulation, Management of interaction between agricultural landscape composition and farming practices and climate change.
Publications – (most recent)
Sow, A., Brévault, T., Benoit, L., A., Galan, Haran, J. (2020). DNA Metabarcoding as a Tool for Disentangling Food webs in Agroecosystems. Insects 11, 294.
Sow, A., Sèye, D., Faye, E., Benoit, L., Galan, M., Haran, J., and Brévault, T. (2020) Birds and bats contribute to natural regulation of the millet head miner in tree-crop agroforestry systems. Crop Protection 132, 105–127.
Sow, A., Brévault, T., Benoit, L., Chapuis, M-P., Delvare, G., Coeur d’Acier, A., Galan, M., Sembène, M., Haran. (2019). Deciphering host-parasitoid interactions and parasitism rates of crop pests using DNA metabarcoding. Scientific Reports 9:3646
Professional career interests
Conservation and restoration of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes, combating deforestation, sustainable agriculture, food security, and rural development.
I participate at climapAfrica because...
It provides to acquire new skills and qualifications in biostatistics and bioinformatics (modelling). These skills will complement those already acquired during her master's degree and my thesis. It provides, through the working groups, to interact with other researchers from different backgrounds, related to climate change. Also, it provides opportunities to expand my interprofessional and interpersonal network