With about 10,000 species living in salted and brackish waters, foraminifera constitute the most diverse group ofshelled microorganisms in modern oceans, and substantially contrbute to biodiversity. Abundant and sensitive toenvironmental conditions, they constitute one of the most valuable tools for environmental assessment and moni-toring programs. Preservation oftheir mineralized test in the sediment allows the reconstruction of past conditions,including Global Change. This book gives an introduction to foraminifera, designed to be accessible to non-specialists, and summarize themain researches that have been carried out on foraminifera from New Caledonia.The main part of the guide descri-bes and illustrates more than 1,000 species of foraminifera collected in a great variety of environments around NewCaledonia. For each species, SEM micrographs are associated with a description and notes on its distribution. Inorder to facilitate identification, even by non-specialists, species are recorded in alphabetical order within groupsmade on the basis of (1) the nature of the test and (2) the dominant morphological feature. A photographical sum-mary is provided for preliminary identification.
