Increasing global demand for protein and biofuels has spurred a rapid expansion and intensification of agriculture and fisheries in the tropics. Because of this, the role of tropical riparian zones in conserving landscape and forest function, and the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems has been the subject of intense scientific and political debate. However, our knowledge of riparian ecology in temperate zones far exceeds what we know about riparian ecosystems in tropical areas. A large body of work in temperate riparian zones has shown that riparian forest buffers play an important role in mitigating some of the effects of watershed land-use change on freshwaters by intercepting nutrients and pesticides, providing shade, maintaining geomorphic structure, and conserving habitat connectivity within forests and river networks. These functions have justified regulations designed to protect or restore riparian and floodplain ecosystems across the globe, but it is not clear that the "lessons learned" about riparian zones, derived almost exclusively from the temperate zone, apply to tropical regions where the soils, hydrology, riparian vegetation, and organism life histories differ. Given the rate of land clearing, deforestation and agricultural development occurring in tropical areas, we think that now is a good time to assess the state of our knowledge on these important ecosystems and conservation tools. We propose this session as a means of gathering scientists working in this emerging field to do the following: 1) understand the functioning and structure of tropical riparian and floodplain ecosystems, 2) assess their utility in protecting freshwater ecosystems and as a conservation tool for biodiversity, 3) compare management and restoration approaches across tropical zones, and 4) consider how we may improve their use as a tool in tropical freshwhater conservation.