How can late Ice Age to modern insects from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits impact your research?
Dear entomology colleagues and friends: I am deeply grateful for all of your help in identifying material from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits (RLB) these past months. Recent advances in radiocarbon dating have, 1) demonstrated that Quaternary insect remains can be located with great accuracy in radiocarbon time, and 2) well-dated and documented climate indicator beetle species are sensitive proxies for environmental change in the Los Angeles Basin. Because radiocarbon dating has