Perspective

Explore the Co-evolution of Environment and Life in Geological History: Recent Progress at IVPP Laboratory of Palaeoenvironment

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100044, Beijing, China

^* Corresponding author. Email: zhouxinying@ivpp.ac.cn

Abstract

The co-evolution of climate-environment and ancient vertebrates fossil human are core topics in the theory of biological evolution. At the micro level, we hope to understand the feeding habits of some important groups of organisms in ancient ecosystems, such as dinosaurs, birds, and mammals, as well as their related feeding behaviors, migration patterns, and ecological niches. This requires a comprehensive analysis of key global climate processes during critical periods, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, and their relationship with the origin, evolution, and extinction of ancient fossil fauna. Similarly, changes in global climate and ancient monsoon systems have played important roles in the origin, migration, diffusion and behavioral patterns of ancient human being. The domestication of animals and plants and the origin of agriculture are the most representative examples of the co-evolution of human and ecosystem. The early agricultural society not only adapted to most of the area of the terrestrial ecosystem, but also transformed it into the human ecosystem to a large extent.