Recent progress and focuses of ichnology: Outline of the 14th International Ichnofabric Workshop

The 14th International Ichnofabric Workshop was held successfully in Taipei, China from April 29th to May 2nd. From the oral presentations, posters, intra-and post-workshop field trips, and workshop discussions, a few promising aspects of ichnological study can be outlined: (1) Ichnotaxonomyis, and will be themajor endeavour of ichnologists, supplying important behavioural information for palaeontological studies, and also providing reasonable, objective, and convenient taxonomical framework for further sedimentological and palaeoecological studies; (2) Ichnofabric analysis is widely applied to in-depth sedimentological, palaeoclimatical, and petroleum exploration studies, offering a wealth of biological information that cannot be properly obtained from traditional sedimentological and geochemical analyses; (3) Study of trace fossils in the context of evolutionary palaeoecology sheds light on some intriguing issues of the biological responses during certain critical periods in Earth's history; (4) Work on combining geomicrobiology and ichnology is under way; (5) Quantitative morphological characterization has become increasingly useful in grasping the finer ingredients of functional morphology.