THE ADVANCE IN THE STUDY OF THE JEHOL BIOTA
This seminar will provide a review of some of the most significant discoveries from the biota from a biological and paleoecological perspective, showing that the Jehol Biota provides the best window for us to reconstruct the Lower Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem. The Jehol Biota is best known for producing many exceptional preserved feathered dinosaurs, early birds, mammals, pterosaurs, salamanders, fishes, insects and flowering plants. Prof. Zhou received his Ph.D. degree with honors from the University of Kansas in 1999. He returned to same year. His main research interest is on the origin and early evolution of birds, feathers and bird flight. He is also involved in the study of Mesozoic fishes, feathered dinosaurs, pterosaurs, stratigraphy and the evolution of the Jehol Biota, the relationship between paleo-environment and biological evolution in order to better understand the evolution of the Lower Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem. Prof. Zhou has coauthored over 180 scientific papers, including many in Nature, Science, Nature Communications, PNAS and Current Biology. He has received a number of national awards, including two National Natural Science Awards from the Chinese government (2000 and 2007). His research team also earned several major honors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, including the most prestigious Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize (2003). In 2010, he was elected a foreign associate by the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. He was elected a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011. In 2014 he was elected President of the International Palaeontological Association. He was elected a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences and the corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in 2015.