1. Faculty of Environment
  2. School of Earth and Environment
  3. People
  4. Profile
Zhen Xu (Jane)

Zhen Xu (Jane)

  • Position: Research fellow
  • Areas of expertise: Palaeobotany, Plant taxonomy, Palaeo-environment and palaeo-climate, Biogeochemistry-climate model
  • Email: Z.Xu@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 7.115

Profile

Dr. Zhen Xu earned a Bachelor’s degree in 2017 and a PhD in 2023 from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), with a visiting period at the University of Leeds from 2021. Currently a postdoctoral researcher at Leeds, Zhen’s work focuses on the evolution of plant diversity, productivity, and physiology during the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) and its environmental implications. Under the supervision of Professors Jianxin Yu and Hongfu Yin, Zhen conducted extensive fieldwork collecting plant fossils from South China and developed methods to extract diversity data from fragmented fossils. These efforts led to groundbreaking insights into plant extinction, survival, and biomass recovery stages, published in Earth-Science Reviews. Zhen also developed a plant fossil taphonomy evaluation system with Professors Hilton and Wignall, visualizing the ecological and physiological evolution of plant landscapes. In collaboration with Professors Barry Lomax and Jason Hilton, Zhen explored the adaptive strategies of Triassic lycophytes, including the use of Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis to survive extreme climates, supported by carbon isotope analyses and phylogenetic studies. These collaborative efforts highlight the role of plant physiological processes in shaping Earth’s climate during mass extinction events. Using the SCION Earth System model under the guidance of Professors Benjamin Mills and Simon Poulton, Zhen demonstrated how low vegetation biomass contributed to prolonged Early Triassic hothouse climates by limiting terrestrial carbon sequestration and chemical weathering.

Research interests

Palaeobotany, deep plant physiology, carbon isotope, chamber experiments, Earth system models

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>