Ecotones are interface zones between different ecosystems. Their ecological role and significance with regard to ecological management and conservation has become increasingly appreciated. For the management of freshwater resources, for example, an improved understanding of the role of land/inland water interfaces, will be essential for reducing negative human impacts by engineering, nutrient loading, siltation, etc. The management of ecotones, on the other hand, offers the possibility to control aquatic system processes via stock control of fish populations. Fish apparently are both excellent indicators of ecotone quality as well as determiners of its structure and function.

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Preface. Notes on ecotone attributres and functions; J. Kolasa, M. Zalewski. Ecotones in Lakes and Reservoirs. Ecotone effects in reservoirs: The land/inland water interface; A. Duncan, J. Kubecka. The role of ecotones as feeding grounds for fish fry in a Bohemian water supply reservoir; J. Matena. Biomass of planktonic crustaceans and the food of young cyprinids in the littoral zone of lake Balaton; A. Simonian, I. Tatrai, P. Biro, G. Paulovits, G. Lakatos. Biomanipulation by ecotone management in a lowland reservoir; M. Zalewski, P. Frankiewicz, M. Nowak. Relationship between the spatial scale and biotic variability in a wetland ecotone; J. Kolasa, L. Weber. Streams. Critical landscape attributes that influence fish population dynamics in headwater streams; I.J. Schlosser. River/land ecotone processes: scales and patterns; G. Bretschko. Riparian ecotones and spatial variation of fish assemblages in Portuguese lowland streams; M.J. Collares-Pereira, M.F. Magalhaes, A.M. Geraldes, M.M. Coelho. Structural variability as an important factor for the conservation of fish species richness in rivers in Switzerland; A. Kirchofer. Ecotones and fluvial regimes in Arctic lotic environments; G. Power, M. Power. Microhabitat use by two small benthic stream fish in a 2nd order stream; D. Zweimüller. Large Rivers and Floodplains. The dependence of fish community structure and dynamics on floodplain and riparian ecotone zone in Parana River, Brasil; A. Agostinho, M. Zalewski. An outline of lateral fish migrations within the Central Delta of the Niger River, Mali; V. Benech, M. Penaz. The influence of high waters on stream fish populations in regulated rivers (Abstract); T. Spindler. Extension androle for fish populations of riverine ecotones along the Sinnamary River (French Guiana); L. Tito de Morais, M. Lointier, M. Hoff. Management Aspects of Streams and Rivers. Standards river restoration concepts must meet; S. Muhar, S. Schmutz, M. Jungwirth. The effects of recreated instream and ecotone structures on the fish-fauna of an epipotamal river; M. Jungwirth, S. Muhar, S. Schmutz. Effect of removal and regeneration of bankside vegetation on fish population dynamics in the Warta River, Poland; T. Penczak. Effects of siltation on stream fishes and the potential mitigating role of the buffering riparian zone; C.F. Rabeni, M.A. Smale. Evolutionary Aspects. Evolutionary adaptations by fish to ecotonal complexity in spatially variable landscapes -- a perspective; M.M. Coelho, M. Zalewski. The genetic structure of roach populations in two contrasted large rivers; Y. Bouvet, J.L. Maslin, E. Pattee, M. Bobin. The land/inland water ecotones and fish populations of Lake Valley (West Mongolia); Y. Dgebuadze. Zonation of a lentic ecotone and its correspondence to life history strategies in fish; J. Wanzenböck, K. Keresztessy. Epilogue: Land/inland water ecotones -- intermediate habitats critical for conservation and management; F. Schiemer, M. Zalewski, J. Thorpe.