About Us

Research at AMAP

AMAP is a Joint Research Unit (UMR) for plant architecture, specialised in botany and bioinformatics ( bot A nique et bioinfor M atique de l' A rchitecture des P lantes ). Research activities at AMAP are rooted in two core disciplines: ( i ) botany (systematic and structural), plant ecology, agronomy and forestry, and ( ii ) applied computer science, mathematics and statistics.

AMAP teams and members offer unique, recognized scientific and technical skills in selected research topics:

focus on characterisation and analysis of the diversity, structure and organisation of plants and plant populations;
encompassing Mediterranean , temperate and tropical considerations; phylogenetic and evolutionary concerns; present day plants and fossils (including cultivated plants and plants growing in ‘natural' conditions or with a low human impact);
use of original methods, often helping in their development, e.g. computer-assisted identification, analysis of plant architecture and development, biomechanical analysis of plants, mathematical and computerised representation of organs, plants, populations and landscapes, growth models, and species and population dynamics.

AMAP strives to combine a variety of approaches:

cognitive research centred on describing and understanding plant diversity, structural/functional relations, relations with phylogenies, biogeography and systematics, and plant growth and functions;
methodological research to develop generic approaches and mathematical, statistical and computer models, with the capacity to analyse, predict and simulate the structure and development of plants and vegetation in a range of settings;
targeted research to gain insight into the dynamics, composition and yield – in terms of quantity and quality – of cultivated and natural plant ecosystems.

Through ambitious projects such as Pl@ntNet , AMAP strives to promote citizen science as a powerful vehicle for gathering new data on plants, and works to support training in agronomy, botany and ecology.

UMR AMAP - Montpellier
FRANCE

Plant Systematic and Ecology Laboratory
University of Yaounde I, Cameroun

French Institute of Pondicherry
Inde

VietNam

Herbariums of Nouméa
New Caledonia

Herbariums of Cayenne
French Guyana

Center of Kourou
French Guyana

Facts & Figures

79 permanent staff members: CIRAD (28 staff), CNRS (10 staff), INRA (12 staff), IRD (24 staff), UM2 (0 staff)
- 56 researchers and research fellows
- 4 associate researchers
- 19 administrative and technical staff
- 22 doctoral students
- 3 post-doctoral students
- around 40 trainees per year.