1. Introduction; 2. Methods; 3. Aspects of biology and basic ecology; 4. Marginal marine environments; 5. Shelf seas; 6. Carbonate environments; 7. Deep sea; 8. Summary of living distributions; 9. Taphonomic processes: formation of dead and fossil assemblages; 10. Applications; Glossary; Appendix 1. Ecological data; References; Web appendices; Web appendix 1. References discussing taxonomy, dead or total assemblages; Web appendix 2. Faunal reference list; Living/stained foraminiferal data tables.