Recent  

The pollen and dinoflagellate cyst content of 21 surface sediments from the northern Gulf of Mexico is used to test the applicability of three palynological ratios (heterotroph/autotroph, pollen/dinocyst, and pollen/bisaccate ratio) as proxies for marine productivity and distance to the coast/river. Redundancy analysis confirms the suitability of these three ratios, where the H/A ratio can be used as an indicator of primary production, and the P/B ratio best tracks the distance to the coast.

Planktonic foraminifera are marine plankton that have a long and continuous fossil record. They are used for correlating and dating ocean sediments and studying evolution and past climates. This paper presents new information about Pulleniatina, one of the most widespread and abundant groups, from an important site in the Pacific Ocean. It also brings together a very large amount of information on the fossil record from other sites globally.

Pseudopolygnathus marburgensis marburgensis and Pseudopolygnathus marburgensis trigonicus were believed to be different conodont subspecies. However, paleontological data indicate those two are stages of evolution of a single lineage. Research is also focused on evolutionary changing of appearance and evolution of growth and development calibrated precisely with incremental layers. This study could have potential influence on dating Late Devonian rocks based on evolutionary transformations.

Benthic organisms show aggregated distributions due to the spatial heterogeneity of niches or food. We analysed the distribution of Globobulimina turgida in the Gullmar Fjord, Sweden, with a data–model approach. The population densities did not show any underlying spatial structure but a random log-normal distribution. A temporal data series from the same site depicted two cohorts of samples with high or low densities, which represent hypoxic or well-ventilated conditions in the fjord.

In this biostratigraphic study of the Middle Miocene–Early Pliocene sequence in the El-Wastani gas field, Egypt, microscopic inspection of the samples enabled the designation of six foraminiferal zones and subzones. Seven stratigraphic sequences have been identified based on the foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil diversity. Depositional sequences and sequence boundaries are recognized by the integration between the seismic data, biostratigraphic zones, and wireline logs (gamma rays).

Turonian–Coniacian agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages from calcareous deposits from the temperate European shelf realm were studied. Acmes of agglutinated foraminifera correlate between different sections and can be used for paleoenvironmental analysis expressing inter-regional changes. Agglutinated foraminiferal morphogroups display a gradual shift from Turonian oligotrophic environments towards more mesotrophic conditions in the latest Turonian and Coniacian.

A sediment core was analysed, focusing over the 2000 years, in Edisto Inlet. Benthic and planktic foraminifera were picked and used to determine changes in the faunal composition. Using other nearby cores, by comparing different proxies, we were able to identify a succession of three different environmental phases over the studied period: a seasonal-cycle phase (from 2000 to around 1500 years BP), a transitional phase (from 1500 to 700 years BP) and a cold phase (from 700 years to present).