We review approaches to the assessment of ecological condition and conservation management of large floodplain rivers. The review highlights research gaps and emphasizes the importance of developing more holistic indicators of ecosystem condition. Indicators that better reflect landscape level changes in structure and functioning of floodplain rivers are needed. Studies that distinguish the role of different river floodplain habitat types in ecosystem services provision are needed. More effective spatial conservation prioritization tools are needed at the river floodplain scale.

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This manuscript is contextually identical with the following published paper: 1 Dolezsai A, Sály P, Takács P, Hermoso V, Erős T (2015) Effective conservation of freshwater biodiversity requires accounting for connectivity and the 30 propagation of threats along river networks. With this in mind, the selection of areas to 31 conserve freshwater biodiversity is challenging when rivers cross multiple jurisdictional 32 boundaries. We used systematic conservation planning to identify priority conservation areas 33 for freshwater fish conservation in Hungary (Central Europe). We evaluated the importance of 34 transboundary rivers to achieve conservation goals by systematically deleting some rivers 35 from the prioritization procedure in MARXAN and assessing the trade-offs between 36 complexity of conservation recommendations (e.g., conservation areas located exclusively 37 within Hungary vs. transboundary) and cost (area required). We found that including the 38 segments of the largest transboundary rivers (i.e. Danube, Tisza) in the area selection 39 procedure yielded smaller total area compared with the scenarios which considered only 40 smaller national and transboundary rivers. However, analyses which did not consider these 41 large river segments still showed that fish diversity in Hungary can be effectively protected 42 within the country's borders in a relatively small total area (less than 20% of the country's 43 size). Since the protection of large river segments is an unfeasible task, we suggest that 44 transboundary cooperation should focus on the protection of highland riverine habitats and 45 their valuable fish fauna, in addition to the protection of smaller national rivers and streams. 46Our approach highlights the necessity of examining different options for selecting priority 47 areas for conservation in countries where transboundary river systems form the major part of 48 water resources. 49