Raymonde Bonnefille
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
10/53 - 07/57. College/Ecole Normale Le Puy en Velay
10/57 - 07/59 Lycee Aix-en-Provence, math special
10/59 - 07/61 Universite Paris Sorbonne as member of "Ecole Normale Supérieure "
Zoology Biology Geology Botany Physiology
07/61 Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures , Laboratoire de Géologie du Quaternaire, Bellevue-
Meudon (Directeur H. Alimen).
07/63 Agregation de Sciences Naturelles , Option Sciences de la Terre
11/72 These de Doctorat d'Etat, Université Paris VI Sujet: "Associations polliniques
actuelles et quaternaires en Ethiopie (Haute Vallée de l'Awash et basse vallée de
l'Omo) " (Jury: J. Piveteau, . H. Alimen, J. Chavaillon, H. Faure, R. Pichi- Sermolli,
Mme. Van Campo)
06/ 94 qualified as "professeur des Universités", section 67, Biologie des Populations et
Ecologie
APPOINTMENTS
09/63 - 09/65 Professeur Agrégée au Lycée de Jeunes Filles de Bourges
10/65 - 07/79 Chercheur au CNRS, Sciences de la Terre, laboratoire de Géologie du
Quaternaire, Bellevue-Meudon
1972 – 1973 Stage post-Doc, Durham, Cleveland, USA, under bourse NATO.
1979 -1989 Directeur de Recherche 2è classe au CNRS, section 20, Lab.de Géologie du
Quaternaire. Université de Luminy, Marseille.
10/95 -12/98 Directeur du laboratoire de Palynologie de l'Institut français de Pondicherry,
India
01/99 Directeur de rechercher 1ère classe, Cerege, Aix en Provence.
FIELDWORK:
PALEOCLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION - Ethiopia: direction of a coring campaign in the lakes of
the Ethiopian Rift with a Mackereth corer ’81; responsibility of the CNRS French
multidisciplinary ERICA, Program, coordinator of coring campaign into Ethiopian lakes with
Equarift equipment - 15 scientists 5 different laboratories ‘94; Burundi: direction of coring
into highland peatbogs swamps, Kashiru, Kuruyange, Jiji, Buyongwe ‘82/86/88; direction of
coring into valley swamps Ndurumu and Buyongwe ’88; coring at Nyamabuno et Gatovu,
North Burundi ’88; India: botanical expeditions to the mountains of the Soutwest, Nilgiris
Range ‘95-98
EARLY HOMININ ENVIRONMENTS - French expeditions, Melka Kunture archaeological site,
Ethiopia ’68-70; International paleontological expeditions in the Lower Omo valley under Y.
Coppens and F.C. Howell, and Turkana, Kenya under G. Isaac and R. Leakey ’68-75;
Research at Olduvai and Laetoli, Tanzania under M.D. Leakey ‘73 – 76; Archaeological
Expedition at Gadeb, Ethiopia, under J.D. Clark ’77; - Organisation of the first International
Afar Research Expedition, Ethiopia with M. Taieb, D.C.Johanson and Y. Coppens ’72;
Paleoanthropological expedition at Middle Awash, Ethiopia under T. White ‘95
PALYNOLOGY OF THE MIOCENE DEPOSITS - Ethiopia Uadi-Ugri lignite ‘75-81; Chilga lignite,
1984; Kenya, Fort Ternan, Songhor, Baringo, under M. Pickford
MODERN POLLEN RAIN OF AFRICAN ECOSYTEMS -
I have organized many field expeditions: Tanzania : Olduvai - Laetoli : subdesertic steppes
’75; Serengeti et mountains tropical forests with J. Raynal ’76; Togo: deciduous forests ‘83;
Gabon : forêts douces humides ’86; Ethiopia : tropical humid forest of the southwest plateau,
(Ethiopian Flora Project) ‘84; Burundi : tropical Rain forests of Central Africa (under
Ministry of French Cooperation) ‘85
Participation in the launching of the African Pollen Data Base (APD, available on the web
network NOAA NGDC Center) and the international effort for modeling vegetation at a
global scale (international projects, PMIP , GAIM etc,. funded by EEC ). My own task as a
member of the international Committee of « BIOME 6000 », was to develop biome and
modeling approaches for the African continent.
FIVE PUBLICATIONS MOST CLOSELY RELATED TO THE PROPOSED PROJECT:
Bonnefille R. , Chalie, F., (2000). Long term time series of pollen inferred precipitation from
equatorial mountains, Central Africa. In Global and Planetary Change, 26 p.25-50.
Peyron O., Jolly D., Bonnefille R., Vincens A. & Guiot J. (2000). The climate of East Africa
from pollen data, 6000 years ago. Quaternary Research, 54 (1), 90-101.
Bonnefille R. (1999). Evolution du cadre climatique et climatique du Grand Rift africain. in :
« Comment l’Homme » Ouvrage A. GALLAY ed, 199-224 Editions Errances et Geodécouverte
Genève.
Barboni D., Bonnefille R., Alexandre A., Meunier J. D. (1999). Phytoliths as
palaenvironmental indicators, West Side Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia.
Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 152/1-2: 87-100.
Bonnefille, R., Riollet, G., Buchet, G., Icole, M., Lafont, R., Arnold, M. (1996).
Glacial/interglacial record from intertropical Africa, high resolution pollen and carbon
data at Rusaka, Burundi. Quaternary Science Reviews, vol.14, 917-936.
FIVE OTHER SIGNIFICANT RELATED PUBLICATIONS:
Mohammed, M.U., Bonnefille, R., Johnson, T.C. (1995). Comparison of the pollen record and
other proxies of past climatic change in Late Holocene sediments from Lake Turkana,
Kenya. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 119, 371-383.
Bonnefille, R. (1995). A reassessment of the palynological record from Plio-Pleistocene
deposits in East Africa. In: Vrba, E.S., et al. (eds), Paleoclimate and Evolution with
emphasis on Human Origins, New Haven, Yale University Press, 300-310.
Bonnefille R., Vincens A., Buchet G. (1987) - Palynology, stratigraphy and
palaeoenvironment of a Pliocene hominid site (2.9-3.3. M.Y.) at Hadar, Ethiopia.
Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol, 60: 249-281
Bonnefille R., Vincens A. (1985). Apport de la Palynologie à l’environnement des Hominidés
d ‘Afrique Orientale. In "L’Environnement des Hominidés au Plio-Pleistocene". Colloque international (Juin, 1981) organisé par la fondation Singer-Polignac: 233-
235. Paris (FR) Masson.
Bonnefille R., Lobreau D., Riollet G. (1982). Pollen fossile de Ximenia (Olacaceae) dans le
Pleistocene inférieur d’Olduvai en Tanzanie, implications palaeoecologiques. Journ of
Biogeography, 9: 469-486.
PHD STUDENTS ADVISED
Baboni, D., Peyron, O., Sutra, J.P., Krishnamurthy, A., Elmoutaki, S., Jolly, D.,Umer, M.,
Chalié, F., Aucour, A;M., Roeland, J. C., Lezine, A. M., Edorh, T., Vincens, A.