Understanding Botanical Traits of Rancho La Brea Fossils for Conservation Purposes

Abstract

The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles is home to over 4 million Pleistocene fossils that help us better understand California during the last Ice Age. While the focus of Rancho La Brea research has often been on understanding the site’s megafauna, the plant fossils of this site hold a wealth of information that remains untapped. Seeds, nuts, pods, leaves, and entire trees have been preserved in the asphalt to such a degree that researchers have identified over 150 different species of plants. These plants document the environmental changes Southern California has experienced from before the Last Glacial Maximum until today. The plants found at La Brea Tar Pits have proven their resilience during extreme climatic changes. Their botanical characteristics and traits are valuable for conservationists and land managers to consider as they plan landscapes for the changing climatic circumstances of today. To translate this deeper-time information into actionable conservation recommendations, we are developing a database of biological, environmental, and ethnobotanical characteristics for each of the 163 species of plant fossils identified at La Brea Tar Pits. By recording botanical temperature ranges, drought tolerances, soil preferences, fire responses, and organisms associated with each species, we can recommend which La Brea plants can thrive in certain regions, maximizing functional ecosystem services with minimal human investment. Researchers, land managers, conservation specialists, urban planners, and homeowners can use this database to create sustainable climate change-resistant parks, gardens, habitats, and recreational/educational spaces utilizing plants native to Los Angeles for the past 50,000+ years.