Agglutinated foraminifera are among the most widely distributed and abundant groups of marine meiofauna in some environments (e. g. marshes, deep-sea). They are tolerant of environmental extremes, tending to live where the evolutionarily more advanced calcareous foraminifera cannot survive. However, largely because of historical reasons, the amount of scientific effort invested in this group has been small in comparison to studies of other marine organisms. The NATO Advanced Studies Institute conference on the paleoecology, biostratigraphy, paleoceanography and taxonomy of agglutinated foraminifera in TUbingen September 17-29, 1989, was a direct outgrowth of two previous workshops on agglutinated foraminifers held in Amsterdam in September 1981 (IW AF I) and in Vienna in June 1986 (IW AF 11). As such, the TUbingen conference constitutes the Third International Workshop on Agglutinated Foraminifera (IW AF III) and was organised to provide a platform for synthesizing the current state of knowledge on this group of organisms, and to strengthen interactions between basic research and applied micropaleontology. One of the main underlying themes of the conferen:e was to identify topics in the paleoecology, biostratigraphy, paleoceanography and taxonomy of agglutinated foraminifera which are in urgent need of further research. About 80 scientists and students from 5 continents participated in the TUbingen conference, which is one measure of the growth in interest in agglutinated foraminifers over the past decade. During four days of technical sessions, scientific results were communicated in the form of 34 oral presentations and 15 poster displays.

CONTENTSGIANCLEMENTE PAREA – “El Niño” is a tectonically driven meteorological event?MARCO ROMANO, RICCARDO MANNI, UMBERTO NICOSIA – Phylogenetic analysis of cyrtocrinid crinoids and its influence on traditional classificationsDOMENICO RIDENTE – Heterochrony and evolution in some Toarcian ammonites. Speculations and insightsSIMONE FABBI, PAOLO CITTON, MARCO ROMANO, ANGELO CIPRIANI – Detrital events within pelagic deposits of the umbria-marche basin (northern apennines, italy): further evidence of early cretaceous tectonicsANTONIETTA CHERCHI, RAJKA RADOIČIĆ, ROLF SCHROEDER – Farinacciella ramalhoi, n. gen., n. sp., a larger foraminifer from the Kimmeridgian-lower Tithonian of the Neo-Tethyan realmFRANCESCO SCHIAVINOTTO – Neanic acceleration in Nephrolepidina from the Oligo-Miocene Mt. Torretta section (L’Aquila, central Apennines): biometric results and evolutionary, taxonomic and biostratigraphic remarks.VIRGILIO FREZZA, MICHELA INGRASSIA, ELEONORA MARTORELLI, FRANCESCO L. CHIOCCI, RUGGERO MATTEUCCI, LETIZIA DI BELLA – Benthic foraminifers and siliceous sponge spicules assemblages in the Quaternary rhodolith rich sediments from Pontine Archipelago shelfRUGGERO MATTEUCCI, MARIA LETIZIA PAMPALONI, GIULIA VENTURA – Ulderigo Botti’s handbook on stages and sub-stages: a poorly known inventory of the late nineteenth century

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of calcareous algae and stromatolites. It contains reviews by leading specialists of major groups, together with accounts of floras through time. It deals with marine and non-marine, benthic and planktic, and modern as well as ancient examples. As the first multi-authored review of the field ever published in English, it is an essential reference text for this complex field. It is designed for both postgraduate researchers and professional scientists who require up-to-date and authoritative information on these long-ranging organisms and fabrics which are of wide evolutionary, environmental and sedimentary significance.

Prior to the 3rd International Symposium on Fossil Algae, held in Golden, Colorado in August of 1983, a 3-day fieldtrip concentrating on Recent algal distribution in southern Florida was led by Robert N. Ginsburg and his associates from Miami. A post-symosium fieldtrip to the West Texas-southern New Mexico region was led by Don Toomey and Jack Babcock. This fieldtrip examined Precambrian and Paleozoic algal carbonates in a region characterized by superb outcrop exposures, and included the famous Permian Reef complex. The Toomey-Babcock fieldtrip resulted in a unique fieldguide published by the Colorado School of Mines (1983), and issued to all participants of the symposium. The symposium itself was held from August 15 through Augsut 17 on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines where Professor J. Harlan Johnson, to whose memory this volume is dedicated, spent so much of his career studying fossil algae. The symposium sessions were held for 3 days, and during that time 40 papers were presented and discussed. A I-day fieldtrip, led by John L. Wray, to examine Late Paleozoic phylloid algal carbonates exposed in the nearby Rocky Mountains, concluded the formal meetings.