Fossil Beetles Reveal 50-Million-Year-Old Climate with Warmer Winters

Scientists are learning a little bit more about ancient climates, thank to 50-million-year-old fossil beetles. The beetles, which fed only on palm seeds may give researchers new insight into climate patterns, which could help predict climate in the future.

"The natural distribution of palms is limited today to regions without significant forest days, which their seeds and seedlings can't survive," said Bruce Archibald, one of the researchers, in a news release. "A cooler upland with palms indicates a specific climate type, where a temperature average yearly temperature--rather like Vancouver today--had warmer winters where palms can complete their lifecycles."

That's where the beetles come in. Because they fed exclusively on palm seeds, the scientists used their fossils to test for the palms' presence. This allowed them to understand the climate in the 50-million-year-old uplands of British Columbia and Washington.

So why is understand the past important for the future? By looking at the past, the researchers can see how a changing climate impacted species and distribution. This allows them to assess how the climate and species of today might respond. This, in turn, could help scientists develop strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change.

"We see this happening today in significant ways--warm the winters a little, and you get big changes, such as the explosion of mountain pine beetle populations that strongly affect forests and the people and economies that depend on them," said Archibald in a news release. "Using the fossil record to understand climates of the deep past that had significant similarities to climates that we are now encountering may help forearm us with knowledge that will be important to our future as we increasingly experience the effects of global warming."

The findings reveal a bit more about how fossils can be used to learn more about the past. By using the beetles, the scientists revealed a bit more about the history of climate in the region.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.