Montpellier Scientific Community



Botany and computational plant architecture (AMAP)

Director: Daniel Barthélémy
Research area
The Joint Research Unit Botany and computational plant architecture (AMAP) research holds a central place in the analysis and modelling of the structure, development and diversity of plants and plant communities. The combination of approaches in both research and training represents a scientific and technical innovation for modern agronomy, botany and forestry. The unit has developed a "combined approach" for studying plants, be they annual or perennial, living or fossil, wild or cultivated and either temperate, Mediterranean or tropical. AMAP research embraces many empirical approaches applied to plants, including morphology and anatomy, data analysis and processing, computational simulation and knowledge management.
Research highlights
  • Botany: wild and cultivated tropical plants and ecosystems
  • Paleobotany
  • Computer-assisted plant identification
  • Plant architecture and biomechanics
  • Computational plant architecture and production
  • Structure and dynamics of plant communities, ecosystems and landscapes
Staff profile
 
Total permanent staff Total Scientists Scientists with "HDR"[1] Post-doc fellows PhD
52
 41 12 4 17
[1] French university degree for confirmed thesis supervisor    
         
Research teams
The unit is organized into three research groups having a wide variety of disciplines, including botany, ecology, evolution, applied mathematics and informatics.
Team 1 - Evolution of plant form and function, systematics, floristics: research is focussed on the diversity and evolution of both living and fossil plants; with the main aims to: i) investigate morphological and architectural innovations which contributed to the diversification of the major plant groups; ii) test hypotheses concerning the evolution of plant form; iii) analyse the phylogenetic relationships and classification of fossil and living plants; iv) study the processes effecting plant distribution over time for both fossil and extant plants; v) develop methods of plant identification using new technologies and computer-assisted tools.

Team 2 - Plant architecture and development: with the aim to understand and predict plant growth, plant architecture, reproduction and plasticity, and to identify genetic and environmental factors that effect growth of cultivated plants. Main objectives are to: i) develop understanding of plant architecture using morphological and anatomical traits; ii) identify phenotypic characteristics and genetic controls for structural diversity and phenotypic plasticity; iii) analyse growth and physiological processes for understanding architectural development; iv) model and plant growth and integrate physical and physiological processes for predicting plant architectural development under cultivated and in variable ecological and climatic conditions.

Team 3 - Organization and dynamics of populations and landscapes: research includes phylogeny, floristics, systematics, growth and dynamics, and the development of quantitative tools for modelling and simulating plant communities and landscapes. The aim is to understand different spatiotemporal levels of organisation in plant stands, essentially in forestry and agroforestry; in particular to: i) analyse the spatial organisation of forest communities at both local and regional levels for management and conservation; ii) describe and simulate the structure and development of plant communities in relation to the architectural variability and plasticity of their species; iii) model and reconstruct spatial dynamics of plant communities and their landscapes.
Platforms and other tools
  • AMAPsim, a software package for simulation of plant architecture development, including tools for parameterization, simulation, visualisation and control, a reference database, technical documentation and examples of external applications
  • CAPSIS, an open source software platform for forest growth / dynamics models. It is a tool for forestry researchers, forest managers and educational purposes.
  • OSCAR (Open Source Simple Computer for Agriculture in Rural Areas), OSWALD (Open Source for Weed Assessment in Lowland Paddy Fields) and ORCHIS (Open (Re)source for Commerce in Horticulture aided by species Identification Systems); an open source application to identify plant species. The first prototype was designed as a tool for decision-making in weed identification and control; it has been extended to orchids in Laos.
  • MHP (Multiscale Heterogeneity Map), open source software for statistical analysis of surface patterns.
  • Pl@ntNote , open source software designed to help researchers process local field-based ecological data on individual plants
Most important international partnerships
AMAP has a wide network of academic, scientific, technological and commercial partnerships in Europe, North America, Argentina, Chile, New-Zealand, China, India, and Laos, with scientists in permanent positions in the three latter countries.
Facts and figures
Publications in international ranking journals
2007: 37
2006: 35
2005: 42
Representative publications
Gerrienne P., Meyer-Berthaud B., Fairon-Demaret M., Streel M., Steemans P., 2004. Runcaria, a Middle Devonian seed plant precursor. Science, 306(5697): 856-858.

Jin C., Ciochon R.L., Dong W., Hunt R.M.J., Liu J., Jaeger M., Zhu Q. 2007. The first skull of the earliest giant panda. Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America, 104 (26): 10932-10937.

Meyer-Berthaud, B., Decombeix, A.-L., 2007. A tree without leaves. Nature, 446 (7138): 861-862.

Munoz F., Couteron P., Ramesh B.R., Etienne R.S. 2007. Estimating parameters of neutral communities: from one Single Large to Several Small samples. Ecology, 88 (10):2482-2488

ter Steege, H., Pitman, N.C.A., Phillips, O.L., Chave, J., Sabatier, D., Duque, A., Molino, J.-F., Prévost, M.-F., Spichiger, R., Castellanos, H., von Hildebrand, P., Vasquez, R., 2006. Continental-scale patterns of canopy tree composition and function across Amazonia. Nature, 443(7110): 444-447