Studies of foraminiferal assemblages of the Indian Ocean are represented by a few taxonomic papers per decade until the past 20 or 30 years when studies emphasizing foraminiferal ecology commenced. More than half of all the papers on modem assemblages of the Indian Ocean have been published in the past 10 years, developing primarily from the stimlus of the International Indian Ocean Expedition in the period of 1962-1965. Most of the recent papers highlight the study of foraminiferal-environmental relationships or of foraminifera and geochronology. The present publication rate indicates that this next decade will result in more than double the total number of existing reports on Indian Ocean Foraminiferida.

New investigations needed include studies of the biology of foraminifera, studies of population gradients, biometric studies, biochemical analyses, studies of foraminferal relationships to ocean pollution, and general foraminiferal-environmental studies to develop new tools for paleoecology. New technologies in geochemistry, in paleomagnetism, in computer analyses, in collecting devices, all need to be applied to foraminiferal studies to not only discover new relationships but to corroborate and increase the precision of known relationships.