This session will explore how the fossil record of ecosystems and their preservation influence the recognition and interpretation of sedimentary environments in the context of sea level variation. The session will address the role of palaeoenvironments and taphonomic pathways in the recognition of ecological complexity as well as secular and periodic changes of diversity, origination and extinction. Specifically it will include the affect of sequence stratigraphy on ecosystem structure and fossil preservation potentials. The session is geared toward a wide interdisciplinary approach involving various fields ranging from palaeontology to sedimentology and geochemistry. Contributions are invited for case studies and theoretical approaches from both siliciclastic and carbonate environments iat various temporal and spatial scales throughout Earth history.