Whilst continuing to monitor developments in the taxonomy and evolutionary systematics of African rodents, my current and planned research focuses on the ecology of small mammal communities in various contexts (natural, rural, commensal), with an emphasis on i) the proportion and role of invasive species within these communities; ii) the role of these small mammals as hosts to parasites and pathogens that may be transmissible to humans. I conduct this research in various environmental contexts, particularly the Ferlo region along the route of the Great Green Wall in Senegal and the city of Bamako in Mali. I am also involved in steering the West African Observatory for Small Mammals as Indicators of Environmental Change (ObsMiCE) and in the scientific management of the database on African small mammals hosted at the CBGP.

Keywords: West Africa – Global change – Community ecology – Rodents – Zoonoses.