Nature of the fossil record, taphonomy; growth, allometry and heterochrony; species concepts and systematics – nomenclature, classification and phylogenetics; adaptation and functional morphologic analysis; evolutionary rates and trends; global diversity and extinction, mass extinctions. Palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography; palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction; isotopic palaeobiology. Applications of fossils in biostratigraphy, correlation and sequence stratigraphy. Sampling and sample preparation techniques for microfossils, morphology and classification of foraminifera, study of some common benthic and planktonic foraminifera. Stratigraphic palaeontology of India.