Reconstructing fossil-rich East Asian amber forests using inclusions of seed plants

琥珀，一种植物树脂化石，是古植物学的宝贵资源，因为它高保真地保存了植物化石，包括化石记录中罕见的微小而脆弱的植物结构。近年来，缅甸（中白垩世）、抚顺（中国，早始新世）和漳浦（中国，中中新世）等东亚琥珀矿床的包裹体数量急剧增加；然而，研究兴趣主要集中在节肢动物、其他无脊椎动物甚至脊椎动物包裹体上。这些东亚琥珀的种子植物化石实际上还没有被研究过。因此，东亚琥珀源林的解释基本是基于节肢动物包裹体，结果相互矛盾。本研究旨在研究缅甸、抚顺和张浦琥珀矿床的种子植物包裹体，以重建其原始森林。虽然植物包裹体保存完好，但形态学的关键特征往往隐藏在包裹体中，使用标准光学显微镜无法观察到。因此，我的目标是应用最新的最先进的x射线成像技术，包括微ct和同步加速器x射线断层扫描。这些新技术使研究植物包裹体的内部形态成为可能，至少可以将包裹体分配到科水平。然后，我将把发现的植物分类群与它们最近的灭绝或现存的亲戚进行比较，以分析它们的古生态需求。我将利用这些信息重建东亚琥珀植物群的植被、栖息地类型和它们的原始森林结构。这与从这些琥珀中恢复的大量无脊椎动物和脊椎动物内含物的深刻古生态学评估有关。此外，本研究还将为了解东亚陆生古生态系统及其时空演化、古地理格局和特定植物谱系的进化史提供重要的线索。

Amber, fossilized plant resin, is a valuable source for palaeobotany, since it preserves plant fossils in high fidelity, including minute and fragile botanical structures which are otherwise rare in the fossil record. In the past years, East Asian amber deposits of Myanmar (mid-Cretaceous), Fushun (China, early Eocene) and Zhangpu (China, middle Miocene) revealed a tremendously increasing number of inclusions; however, research interests were mainly focused on arthropod, other invertebrate and even vertebrate inclusions. Fossil seed plants from these East Asian ambers are still virtually unstudied. Thus, source forests of East Asian ambers have been basically interpreted on the basis of arthropod inclusions, leading to contradictory results. In the proposed study, I aim to investigate seed plant inclusions from Burmese, Fushun and Zhangpu amber deposits for reconstructing their source forests. Although plant inclusions are well preserved, morphological key features are often hidden inside of the inclusion and not accessible using standard light microscopy. Therefore, I aim to apply new state-of-the-art X-ray imaging techniques, including microCT and synchrotron X-ray tomography. These new techniques enable studying internal morphologies of plant inclusions which allows assigning the inclusion at least to family level. I will then compare the found plant taxa to their closest extinct or living relative in order to analyze their palaeoecological requirements. I will use this information to reconstruct the vegetation of the East Asian amber floras, the habitat types and the structure of their source forests. This is relevant for a profound palaeoecological evaluation of the plethora of invertebrates and vertebrate inclusions recovered from these ambers. Furthermore, my study has the potential to provide significant keys for understanding terrestrial palaeoecosystems of East Asia and their evolution in time and space, as well as palaeobiogeographic patterns and the evolutionary history of specific plant lineages.