This book will help readers learn the basic skills needed to study microfossils especially those without a formal background in paleontology. It details key principles, explains how to identify different groups of microfossils, and provides insight into their potential applications in solving geologic problems. Basic principles are addressed with examples that explore the strengths and limitations of microfossils and their geological records. This overview provides an understanding of taphonomy and quality of the fossil records, biomineralization and biogeochemistry, taxonomy, concepts of species, and basic concepts of ecology. Readers learn about the major groups of microfossils, including their morphology, ecology, and geologic history. Coverage includes: foraminifera, ostracoda, coccolithophores, pteropods, radiolaria, diatoms, silicoflagellates, conodonts, dinoflagellates, acritarch, and spores and pollens. In this coverage, marine microfossils, and particularly foraminifera, are discussed in more detail compared with the other groups as they continue to play a major role in most scientific investigations. Among the various tracers of earth history, microfossils provide the most diverse kinds of information to earth scientists. This richly illustrated volume will help students and professionals understand microfossils, and provide insight on how to work with them to better understand evolution of life, and age and the paleoenvironment of sedimentary strata.

This textbook will appeal to students and graduates making their first steps in the application of both microfossils and stratigraphy. It presents, in detail, the historical development of microfossil biostratigraphy, from its birth to the emergence of sequence stratigraphy, including its roots in classical biostratigraphy. The interplay between the academic and economical challenges, on one hand, and developments in microfossil biostratigraphy, on the other, is explored thoroughly. The book also presents an introduction to the scientific concepts used in microfossil biostratigraphy practice, and the uses in microbiostratigraphy of 25 groups of microfossils, such as algae, protistans, reproductive plant debris, invertebrates, chordates and vertebrates, and microproblematica groups. It also provides a numerical method to calculate the biostratigraphical resolution of these microfossil groups.

Microfossils through Time: An Introduction is the first textbook of micropaleontology addressing undergraduate students. It presents an introduction to each group of microfossils, from bacteria to microscopical debris of vertebrates, demonstrating the broad range of study of this subdiscipline of paleontology. Not only those groups of microscopic fossils, which are traditionally considered relevant to micropaleontology, are presented (e.g., dinoflagellates, charophytes, radiolarians, spores and pollen, ostracods, chitinozoans, etc), but also others that often occur in micropaleontological samples (e.g., bivalves, echinoderms, fish debris, mammalian teeth, etc). Each of the more than forty microfossil groups are presented in an order that follows the paleontological classification, with a history of study and a variety of data on morphology, living habitats, stratigraphical distribution and their evolution, as inferred from the fossil record. The text is intended as the starting point for a new generation of textbooks that presents micropaleontology in a new structure capable of assuring an efficient transfer of expertise to the younger generations of scientists. This book will help those making their first steps in micropaleontology to develop defensible models of what microfossils are, laying the foundations for fundamental and applied studies. It introduces micropaleontology as a tool for conducting applied studies in biostratigraphy, paleoecology and for paleobathymetric estimates, basin analysis and reconstructing geological history, or related to sequence stratigraphy. It also addresses students and specialists in biology and genetics, offering a solid data base to be integrated with the other two principal components of the triad of sciences that studies the evolution of life on Earth.

Collection, Preparation, and preservation of microfossils; Synoptic classification of organisms with reference to microfossils; Microfossils of the kingdom protista; Plant microfossils; Microfossils of the animal kingdom; The conodonts; The ostracoda; The foraminifera; Environmental significance of microfossils; Stratigraph of microfossils; Applied micropaleontology.

This beautifully illustrated text book, with state-of-the-art illustrations, is useful not only for an introduction to the subject, but also for the application of marine microfossils in paleoceanographic, paleoenvironmental and biostratigraphic analyses. The recent revival of interest in marine micropaleontology worldwide in the wake of the development of sequence stratigraphic models has led to the decision to reissue the volume in its original, but paperback, form. The ideas expressed in various chapters of this second edition remain as valid today as they were when the book was first issued. The text, however, includes an updated Phanerozoic geologic time which has been considerably modified since the 1980s.

De Wever's ode to the invisible world around us allows readers to peer directly into a minute microcosm with massive implications, even traversing eons to show us how life arose on Earth.

Microfossils are ideally suited to environmental studies because their short generation times allow them to respond rapidly to environmental change. This book represents an assessment of the progress made in environmental micropalaeontology and sets out future research directions. The taxa studied are mainly foraminifera, but include arcellaceans, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and ostracodes. The papers themselves range from reviews of applications of particular taxa to specific case studies.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the science of the history of life. Paleobiologists bring many analytical tools to bear in interpreting the fossil record and the book introduces the latest techniques, from multivariate investigations of biogeography and biostratigraphy to engineering analysis of dinosaur skulls, and from homeobox genes to cladistics. All the well-known fossil groups are included, including microfossils and invertebrates, but an important feature is the thorough coverage of plants, vertebrates and trace fossils together with discussion of the origins of both life and the metazoans. All key related subjects are introduced, such as systematics, ecology, evolution and development, stratigraphy and their roles in understanding where life came from and how it evolved and diversified. Unique features of the book are the numerous case studies from current research that lead students to the primary literature, analytical and mathematical explanations and tools, together with associated problem sets and practical schedules for instructors and students. “..any serious student of geology who does not pick this book off the shelf will be putting themselves at a huge disadvantage. The material may be complex, but the text is extremely accessible and well organized, and the book ought to be essential reading for palaeontologists at undergraduate, postgraduate and more advanced levels—both in Britain as well as in North America.” Falcon-Lang, H., Proc. Geol. Assoc. 2010 “...this is an excellent introduction to palaeontology in general. It is well structured, accessibly written and pleasantly informative .....I would recommend this as a standard reference text to all my students without hesitation.” David Norman Geol Mag 2010 Companion website This book includes a companion website at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/paleobiology The website includes: · An ongoing database of additional Practical’s prepared by the authors · Figures from the text for downloading · Useful links for each chapter · Updates from the authors

This book provides practical morphological information, together with detailed illustrations and brief explanatory texts. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction, and goes on to describe the respective organism’s morphology in detail through numerous illustrations. This is followed by a brief note on its classification, and concludes with illustrated examples of stratigraphically important organisms through time with their major distinguishing characteristics. Featuring over 2500 clearly labelled, hand-drawn and classroom-friendly illustrations, the book offers a fundamental resource for budding palaeontologists, petroleum geologists and palaeobiologists.