红豆杉科起源古老，具有强烈“孑遗”性，是研究深时尺度下植物演化和古环境变化的重要类群之一。中侏罗世是红豆杉科演化分异的关键时期，科内大多现存属的早期类群在该时段涌现，但其研究仍欠深入且来自我国的报道很少。宁城盆地和义马盆地分别位于华北克拉通北缘和南缘，侏罗纪陆相地层发育良好，时代相当并富含植物化石。申请人在近期工作积累中，在两个盆地先后发现了中侏罗世红豆杉科化石。它们保存有完好的枝叶形态、叶表皮和生殖器官细节，对探讨中侏罗世红豆杉科的演化和系统发育具有十分重要的意义。本项目拟基于枝叶和生殖器官解剖学、比较形态学和分支分析等方法，全面开展宁城和义马盆地中侏罗世红豆杉科化石的系统分类，及红豆杉科演化生物学和生物地理学研究。本项目的开展，对认识中侏罗世以来红豆杉科多样性演化和古地理分布历史，及它们对古气候环境变化的响应机制具有重要意义，也将为现生红豆杉科植物的有效保护提供来自植物化石的重要依据。

Taxaceae is one of the most ancient and relict conifers, and is thought to be important in studying the plant evolution and paleoenvironmental changes in deep time. Most of the early fossil representatives of the extant Taxaceae emerged in the Middle Jurassic, which was an important period for the evolution and diversification of Taxaceae. However, the studies on the Taxaceae from the Middle Jurassic are not thorough and still scarce, particularly in China. In the Ningcheng basin and the Yima basin, which are located in the north and south rims of North China Craton respectively and similar in age, the Middle Jurassic continental stratums are well developed and bearing abundant plant fossils. Recent discovery of excellently preserved Taxaceae fossils from the Middle Jurassic of Ningcheng basin and Yima basin provide a good opportunity to study the detailed morphological features of leaves, branches and ovules, as well as leaf anatomy characters, which are crucial for understanding the early evolution and phylogeny of Taxaceae. Based on the studies of leaf braches and ovules anatomy, comparative morphology and cladistic analysis, the present project will conduct an integrative taxonomic study on the Taxaceae from the Middle Jurassic of Ningcheng basin and Yima basin, and elucidate their evolutionary history and tempo-spatial distributions. This project aims to understand the species diversity and biogeogrphical history of Taxaceae, and to reveal how they had responded to paleoenvironmental changes. Furthermore, it will provide important reference based on plant fossils for the effective conservation of extant Taxaceae.