广西桂平盆地中新世植物多样性及古气候

中新世是现代生物多样性形成的关键时期，对了解新生代生物群的演化及现代生物多样性的来源至关重要。我国中新世植物化石的研究以往主要集中在北方、华东及西南地区，尤以云南的研究最为详细，而在华南地区（包括海南岛、广东和广西）由于中新世植物化石发现极少，迄今尚未开展系统研究。华南地区地处热带和亚热带交汇处，是我国生物多样性最丰富的地区之一，植物区系以热带-亚热带成分占优势，其形成是本区新生代长期演化的结果。近十多年来，我们已相继开展了华南地区古近纪植物多样性及古气候的研究，并取得了重要进展。本项目将详细研究近年来在广西桂平盆地新发现的中新世植物化石群，分析其多样性组成，恢复古植被，进一步定量分析古气候。这是华南低纬度热带-亚热带过渡区中新世植物群的首次系统研究，研究成果将为深入探讨本区新生代植物多样性演化、古气候变迁以及现代植物多样性的来源和科学保护等提供中新世这一关键时期的古生物学和古生态学依据。

Miocene is the key epoch for the formation of modern biodiversity, which is very important to understand the evolution of Cenozoic biota and the origin of modern biodiversity. In the past, the research of Miocene fossil plants in China was mainly concentrated in the northern, eastern and southwestern China, especially in Yunnan. However, the research of Miocene fossil plants in South China (including Hainan Island, Guangdong and Guangxi) has not been carried out so far because of rare findings of Miocene fossil plants. South China is located at the junction of tropics and subtropics, and is one of the regions with the richest biodiversity in China. The tropical-subtropical component is dominant in the region, and its formation is the result of the long-term evolution since the Cenozoic. In the past ten years, we have successively carried out the study of Paleogene plant diversity and paleoclimate of South China, and made important progress. In this project we will study a newly discovered Miocene flora in the Guiping Basin, Guangxi and analyze its diversity. Based on these data a reconstruction the paleovegetation and quantitative reconstruction of paleoclimate will be accomplished. This is the first systematic study of Miocene flora in the low latitude tropical-subtropical transition area of South China. The research results will provide paleontological and paleoecological evidence for understanding evolution of the Cenozoic plant diversity, paleoclimatic changes, and origin and scientific protection of modern plant diversity in this area.