近年来，申请者在内蒙古乌达煤田发现了一距今约三亿年前被火山喷发所埋藏的成煤沼泽森林，其保存方式与意大利庞贝古城颇为相似，被称为是地球生物界的一个中国“植物庞贝”。通过大量的野外定量统计调查，课题组绘制了远古森林的局部实际复原图，成果发表于《美国科学院院报》（PNAS）。中国“植物庞贝”保存之完好为世界所罕见，是探索远古植被生态系统的化石宝库。正如PNAS同期配置的评述所指出的，这种原位埋藏的化石群落使古生物学家能够运用现代生态学方法研究过去。中国“植物庞贝”使我们能够检测现代生态学的相关法则是否在三亿年前既已存在。藉此，本项目拟在深入的系统分类学工作的基础上，对该早二叠世成煤沼泽植被生态系统开展群落生态学研究，揭示其组成类群、群落结构、树木密度、分层状况、生态梯度、生殖生态等特征。本项目研究成果必将把我国化石植物群落生态学研究推向国际前沿。

In resent years, the applicants discovered a 300 mys peat-forming swampy forest from the Wuda Coalfield, Inner Mongolia, which was preserved by a volcanic tuff, much similar in the way like the ancient Italian Pompeii, so as to be called a Chinese “vegetational Pompeii” in geobiologic world. Based on extensive field quantitative investigation, some regional actual reconstructions of the vegetation were carried out, and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS). The exceptionally well preserved Chinese “vegetational Pompeii” is certainly a fossil lagerstatte to detect the ecology of the ancient forest. As commented in the same issue of PNAS, such T0 deposits allow palaeoecologists to examine the past in much the same way neoecologists appraise modern environments. Chinese “vegetational Pompeii” allows us to test whether modern ecological principles are applicable in the 300 mys vegetation. As such, in this project, we will try to make a thorough investigation on the community ecology of this Early Permian coal swampy forest on the basis of detailed systematic study. The floral composition, structure, tree density, storey, ecological gradient, reproductive ecology will be particularly appraised. As a consequence of the implement of our project, the discipline of Chinese fossil.floral ecology will be promoted to be among international frontier.