Issues related to the detection of boundaries

Ecotones are inherent features of landscapes, transitional zones, and play more than one functional role in ecosystem dynamics. The delineation of eco tones and environmental boundaries is therefore an important step in land-u se management planning. The delineation of ecotones depends on the phenomen on of interest and the statistical methods used as well as the associated s patial and temporal resolution of the data available. In the context of del ineating wetland and riparian ecosystems, various data types (field data, r emotely sensed data) can be used to delineate ecotones. Methodological issu es related to their detection need to be addressed, however, so that their management and monitoring can yield useful information about their dynamics and functional roles in ecosystems. The aim of this paper is to review bou ndary detection methods. Because the most appropriate methods to detect and characterize boundaries depend of the spatial resolution and the measureme nt type of the data, a wide range of approaches are presented: GIS, remote sensing and statistical ones.