Abstract:

Over more than six decades of dedicated research, Chang Meemann’s career has spanned a critical era marked by a paradigm shift in vertebrate evolution studies. Beginning in the 1950s, inspired by the pioneering ichthyologists of the older generation, including Wu Xianwen, O. P. Obrucheva, and E. Stensiö, she conducted systematic investigations of fish fossils preserved in Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic strata across China. Her work yielded landmark achievements across multiple research domains: the evolution of early vertebrates, the phylogeny of sarcopterygians (lobe-finned fishes), the biostratigraphy and faunal evolution of Mesozoic-Cenozoic fishes, and the Cenozoic paleoecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as inferred from fish evolutionary patterns. A strong advocate for integrating new technologies and methodologies into fossil vertebrate research, Chang Meemann founded the “Chinese School” of early vertebrate studies, which has since gained international recognition. Her meticulous anatomical analyses of a series of Early Devonian lobe-finned fishes reshaped the classical understanding of tetrapod origins. She played a pivotal role in introducing cladistics, a then-controversial new paradigm in systematic biology, into China. Serving two terms as the director of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, she led the institute’s internationalization during China’s Era of Reform and Opening-up. Under her leadership, a new generation of scientists was guided into the study of some of the world’s most significant fossil biotas, such as the Jehol Biota. Through her lifelong dedication, Chang Meemann elevated China’s fossil vertebrate research to a world-leading level.

Key words: Chang Meemann, paleoichthyology, vertebrate evolution, cladistics, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplift, Jehol Biota

摘要：

张弥曼六十余载的研究生涯跨越了脊椎动物演化研究范式转变的关键年代。张弥曼从上世纪50年代起，在伍献文、奥布鲁切娃、史天秀等前辈的鼓舞下，系统开展了对中国古、中、新生代地层中鱼类化石的调查，在早期脊椎动物演化，肉鳍鱼类系统发育，中、新生代鱼类区系演化，生物地层及青藏高原新生代古生态研究等领域取得里程碑式成果。张弥曼注重新技术、新方法在古脊椎动物研究中的应用，开创了早期脊椎动物研究的 “中国学派” 。她对一系列后来被归入肺鱼形类的早泥盆世肉鳍鱼类精湛的解剖学研究，重塑了四足动物起源的经典认知。她致力于引介当时仍备受争议的分支系统学新范式进入中国。张弥曼作为两任所长，主导了改革开放时期中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所的国际化建设，引领新一代学者开展热河生物群等化石生物群的系统性研究，带领我国古脊椎动物研究居于世界领先水平。

关键词: 张弥曼, 古鱼类学, 脊椎动物演化, 分支系统学, 青藏高原隆升, 热河生物群