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Preface This report is the result of recognition by the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council's (NRC) Com- mission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources that it should be concerned with the emerging science of restoration ecology in relation to aquatic ecosystems. During its deliberations, the Committee on Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems found that almost every restoration effort it reviewed fo- cused on some component of a larger hydrologic system. The compo- nents fit into one of four categories: lakes, rivers, streams, and wet- lands. However, the committee was also acutely aware that each of these entities functions in a larger ecological landscape greatly influ- enced by other components of the hydrologic cycle, including adjacent terrestrial systems. Regrettably, the case histories of restoration attempts that involved this larger ecological landscape were exceedingly rare. After much discussion, the committee finally decided to review restoration case studies in the components of lakes, river and streams, and wetlands because the available literature tended to be compart- mentalized in this way and because it was a convenient and easily understood means of communicating a large body of information. At the same time, the committee believed very strongly that the spa- tial and temporal scope of most restoration efforts was far too small. Moreover, the committee felt that all too many environmental deci- sions, including those involving restoration, had been made in a frag- mented fashion unlikely to produce aself-maintaining aquatic eco- system integrated into the larger ecological landscape. As a result, xi