Achievements

Microbes play important roles in both response to and alteration of Earth environment in geological history. However, investigation on microbes in ancient times is a tough issue due to its non-skeleton preservation and its difficulty in morphological identification and classification, leading to very limited knowledge in geomicrobes. By focusing on molecular and isotopic fingerprints of microbial lipids and sediments, the MGP made an outstanding, interdisciplinary and systematic contribution to the understanding of terrestrial paleoclimate change, oceanic chemistry and biotic crisis in some critical periods in Earth history. These achievements were published in internationally known high-impacted journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, Nature Geoscience, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Geology, EPSL and GCA, and have been cited widely and interdisciplinarily (Geosciences, Chemistry, Life Science, Environmental Science). Key discoveries are summarized below.