Emergence of modern ecosystems: evidence from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota
Else Marie Friis
This project has as its main goal to establish the palaeobiological and geological framework for understanding Early Cretaceous floristic and faunal changes and the emergence of our modern ecosystems. The pivot for the joint investigations is the Jehol Group sequence of Northeast China, which is world famous for its biota of exquisitely preserved early birds, feathered dinosaurs, mammals, and early flowering plants, captured in the sediments during a series of volcanic eruptions between 130-120 million years ago. This time interval coincides with the critical period of early flowering plant diversification and the radiation of various vertebrate groups such as birds. The co-occurrence of plants and animals in the same geological strata is extremely rare, which makes the Jehol Biota a unique basis for integrated studies of co-evolutionary interactions in the Early Cretaceous.Coworkers:
Zhou Zhonghe, Beijing
Leng Qin, Nanjing
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