Recently, the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province announced the list of excellent popular science works in Hubei Province for 2023. The popular science book “Searching for the Kingdom of Ancient Plants: A Geological Journey through 250 Million Years” created by the team led by Mr. Ha Da from this school was awarded as “Excellent Popular Science Works in Hubei Province for 2023”.
The book was created by a team of students led by Associate Professor Ha Da at the School of Arts and Communication and Dr. Shu Wenchao at the School of Earth Sciences over a period of three years. The book takes the research results related to geology and paleobotany at the transition from Permian to Triassic of the School of Earth Sciences as the core material to visually reproduce ancient plants with comprehensive elements such as hand-drawn representation and restoration and graphic interpretation from the perspective of geoscience popularization.
The book “Searching for the Kingdom of Ancient Plants: A Geological Journey through 250 Million Years” is divided into five parts: understanding, fieldwork, experimentation, restoration, and the Kingdom of Ancient Plants, covering the characteristics of plant fossils, the collection of plant fossils, the restoration of ancient plant communities, and the mass extinction events.
Talking about the initial idea of creating the book, Ha Da, one of the authors of the book, introduced that when conducting the research and creation on visual restoration of ancient plants, they initially hoped to understand how geologists carry out scientific research, however, with the deepening of research, they deeply felt the charm of ancient organisms. Looking at the ancient plant fossils, the diverse forms of ancient plants in ancient times sparked their curiosity and strong desire to tell it. The process of creating this science book is also a process for the team members to understand the earth and deeply practice the spirit of the school motto.
The Permian-Triassic paleobotanical research team represented by Academician Yin Hongfu and Professor Yu Jianxin of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) are the scientific advisors for the book. In the preface, Academician Yin Hongfu writes that plant fossils are beneficial to our understanding of the evolution, extinction and changes in the living environment of life on Earth. The hand drawn pictures in the book show the plant landscape of South China before the largest extinction event in the history of the Phanerozoic era of the Earth 250 million years ago, which inspires us today to respect nature, cherish life, and follow the path of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, to contribute to the construction of “Beautiful China, Habitable Earth”.
Restoration of the Kingdom of Ancient Plants
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