Palaeontology incorporates several, overlapping, areas, the principal of which are:

The former two areas of study, systematics and phylogenetics, interfacing with life science, constitute pure palaeontology; the latter two, palaeobiology and biostratigraphy, interfacing not only with life science, but also with earth and environmental science and other disciplines, applied palaeontology (Fig. 1.1).

There is a logical progression from pure to applied aspects through the course of the book. The purer parts will perhaps be of most value to earth and life science undergraduate and postgraduate students and professionals in academia (and also to interested amateurs). The applied parts will be of value to professionals in industry, including not only applied palaeontologists, palaeobiologists and biostratigraphers, but also petroleum, minerals, mining and engineering geologists, environmental scientists and environmental archaeologists.

Chapter 2 (‘Fossils and fossilisation’) essentially deals with what fossils are, how they form, how they are collected, and how they are classified and identified, described and illustrated, and curated. It includes sections on fossils, on the fossilisation process (taphonomy), on collection of fossils, on classification and identification (systematic palaeontology or taxonomy), on description and illustration (palaeontography), and on preparation, conservation and curation (museology). The section on the fossilisation process contains sub-sections on the representativeness of the fossil record, and on exceptional preservation of fossil assemblages. The section on collection contains sub-sections on surface collection of macrofossils, and collection of surface samples for microfossil analysis, and contains a code of conduct. It also covers equipment and safety.

Chapter 3 (‘Principal fossil groups’) deals with the principal fossil groups. It includes sections on bacteria, plant-like protists or algae, animal-like protists or ‘protozoans’, plants, fungi, invertebrate and vertebrate animals, and trace fossils. The section on bacteria covers cyanobacteria and stromatolites. The section on plant-like protists or algae contains sub-sections on: dinoflagellates; silicoflagellates; diatoms; calcareous nannoplankton; calcareous algae; and Problematica (acritarchs and Bolboforma).