Zhen Xu (Jane)

Profile

Biography

Dr Zhen Xu is a geobiologist and palaeobotanist whose research explores how terrestrial ecosystems evolved and interacted with the Earth system during major episodes of environmental upheaval. Her work integrates fossil evidence, geochemical proxies, chamber experiments, and Earth system modelling to investigate how land plants and their symbiotic microorganisms influenced global climate, biogeochemical cycles, and atmospheric composition through deep time.

Zhen’s research particularly focuses on the Permian–Triassic and Triassic–Jurassic mass extinction events—two of the most profound crises in Earth’s history—to understand how vegetation collapse and recovery shaped global climate trajectories. Her recent publications in Earth Science Reviews and Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology provide the standard workflow of reconstructing deep time vegetation dynamics based on plant fossil data and climatic sedimentary records. She linked these reconstructions to climate and biogeochemical models to show how vegetation collapses amplified greenhouse warming—a landmark study published in Nature Communications and was highlighted by international media including CNN Climate and the Conversation.

She joined the University of Leeds in 2023 as a Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environment, working with Prof. Benjamin Mills on reconstructing terrestrial biosphere dynamics using fossil records and simulating biogeochemical–climate feedbacks via Earth System model SCION. With the physiological traits captured when statistic plant fossil records, she is able to improve the deep time vegetation models. Before this, she worked as a Research Assistant at the State Key Laboratory of Geomicrobiology and Environmental Changes, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), where she designed controlled chamber experiments cultivating Araucaria, Cycas, and Ginkgo under temperature gradients to investigate plant–microbe interactions under extreme climates, with a paper published in Earth Sciences.

Academic Background

• PhD in Geobiology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), 2017–2023
  Supervisors: Prof. Hongfu Yin & Prof. Jianxin Yu
  Joint supervision at University of Leeds (2021–2022): Prof. Benjamin Mills & Prof. Simon Poulton

• BSc in Geology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), 2013–2017
  Supervisor: Prof. Jianxin Yu

• Visiting and Short-term Training

  • Plant ecophysiology and canopy productivity modelling, Haverford College, USA (2025)

  • Stable isotope analysis of fossil plants, University of California Davis (2025)

  • Fossil cuticle preparation and anatomy, Wesleyan University (2025)

  • 3D-CT reconstruction and fossil cuticle preparation, Senckenberg Museum, Germany (2017)

Research Interests

• Paleobotany and plant fossil taxonomy

• Plant–microorganism (mycorrhiza and rhizosphere) interactions

• Fossil plant physiology and functional traits

• Carbon and nitrogen isotope geochemistry

• Terrestrial productivity and vegetation modelling

• Paleoclimate and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

• Biogeochemical and Earth system modelling

• Plant–climate–microbe co-evolution across mass extinction events

Selected Awards and Honours

• 2025 Environment Partnership Awards—Mentorship Nomination, University of Leeds

• 2024 Sylvester–Bradley Award, The Palaeontological Association (UK)

• 2024 Outstanding Science Popularization Video Award, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• 2023 Outstanding Student Presentation Award, European Geosciences Union

• 2023 Best Presentation Award, Chinese Palaeobotany Branch

Conference experiences

5. 2025 Highlight talk in Life and Planet Conference 2025: Contrasting vegetation and climate regulation at the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic hyperthermals;
5. 2025 Talk in the 5th International Conference of Geobiology: Plant, microorganism, and Earth co-evolution: bio-engines on land;
5. 2025 Poster in the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2025: Contrasting vegetation and climate regulation at the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic hyperthermals;
5. 2024 Poster in Chance and purpose in the evolution of biospheres conference: CAM photosynthesis: a key trait in surviving Earth’s largest extinction;
5. 2024 Highlight talk in Life and Planet Conference 2024: How did the Permian-Triassic hot house climate shape the vegetation landscape and how did the land plant fight back?
5. 2024 Talk in the 15th International Palynological Congress and the 11th International Organization of Paleobotany Conference: How did the Permian-Triassic hot house climate shape the vegetation landscape and how did the land plant fight back?
5. 2024 Talk in the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024: How did the Permian-Triassic hot house climate shape the vegetation landscape and how did the land plant fight back?
5. 2023 Poster in the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2023: Early Triassic super greenhouse climate sustained by vegetation collapse;
5. 2023 Talk in the National Sedimentary Conference: The sedimentary facies and vegetation landscape reconstruction in the Middle Triassic Badong Formation indicated the recovery of land ecosystem in South China;
5. 2022 Invited talk (by Dr. Michael Benton and Dr. David Harper) in the International Union of Geological Sciences 60th anniversary, Extinctions and the stratigraphical record: Is the past the key to the present: Vegetation collapse and recovery through the greatest mass extinction crisis of all time;
5. 2022 Invited talk (by Dr. Paul Wignall and Dr. Jason Hilton) in the BETR Final: Early Triassic super greenhouse climate sustained by vegetation collapse;
5. 2022 Talk in the Goldschmidt2022: Early Triassic hothouse climate sustained by vegetation collapse;
5. 2019 Talk in the 4th International Symposium on Geosciences in Northeastern Asia: Six end Permian to Middle Triassic floras in South China and the impact of vegetation evolution to the climate as well as the environment.

Research interests

I concentrated on three major areas:

1. Global vegetation reconstruction, biogeochemical cycling, and Earth system modelling.

I normalized and analysed terrestrial plant fossil and sedimentary database to reconstruct global vegetation maps through key biosphere evolution events, and used the Earth System model SCION to investigate the drivers of plant evolution and its feedbacks on element cycling and climate changes. This work resulted in publications including: a methodological paper on plant macrofossil normalization (Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology), a synthesis of South China plant–environment co-evolution across the Permian–Triassic interval (Earth-Science Reviews), and a global study of plant–climate co-evolution (Nature Communications). This innovative integration of geological records with modelling provides a powerful framework for quantifying the co-evolution of the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere through deep time.

2. Fossil plant morphology, phylogeny, and physiology innovations.

Beyond data analysis and numerical modelling, I applied phylogenetic and morphometric methods (PCA, neighbourhood network) and carbon isotope analysis to trace the evolution of plant physiology in deep time. These approaches informed improvements to vegetation and Earth System models—for example, demonstrating that Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis became ecologically dominant after the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction. A manuscript on this topic is currently under invited revision at Nature Ecology & Evolution.

3. Plant–microbe interactions under extreme climates.

Recognizing that soils represent a larger terrestrial carbon pool than plants, I investigated how extreme warming during the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction shaped plant–microbe symbioses. I grew living analogues of Triassic gymnosperms in controlled climate chambers under temperature gradients derived from palaeoclimate reconstructions, and used high-throughput sequencing to characterize shifts in rhizosphere microbial communities. Results suggest that mutualistic associations with mycorrhizal fungi enhanced plant resilience under extreme climate stress. Part of this work has been published in Earth Science (in Chinese), and an English-language manuscript is currently in preparation. In future work, I aim to deepen the use of the present as a key to understanding the past by expanding growth experiments and incorporating plant–microorganism symbioses into next-generation Earth System models, ultimately enabling more realistic reconstructions of terrestrial biosphere and climate co-evolution through deep time.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Geobiology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China
• Bachelor of Geology. School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)
• Short-term training on recent field plant ecophysiology techniques in Haverford College, United Stat
• Short-term training on plant fossil carbon and nitrogen isotope in University of California, Davis
• Short-term training on preparing plant fossil cuticle preparation in Wesleyan University, United Sta