Abandoned channels are unique, dynamic habitats in alluvial river floodplains. Evolving from early aquatic stages, through transitional periods to upland terrestrial communities, former channels support a wide suite of key ecosystem services, including critical rearing areas for fish and unique assemblages of woody and herbaceous plants that provide habitat and dispersal corridors for terrestrial species. These systems are productive and diverse, yet their spatial and temporal dynamics remain relatively understudied. In particular, the links between the physical and biological processes have not been sufficiently explored to understand habitat formation and transitions between biotic communities. Moreover, the understanding of system dynamics needs to be efficiently integrated into river corridor management (i.e., landscape conservation, process-based restoration, and ecosystem services). Building this kind of knowledge base requires an interdisciplinary approach. This special session on abandoned channels brings together a range of investigators interested in understanding the physical drivers, the biotic responses and feedbacks, and the management of abandoned channel habitats within river corridors. Special emphasis is placed on setting each investigator’s current research within a larger framework to understand the natural dynamics and the interface with society. The session will begin with a short introduction to a landscape framework and the conservation issues involving abandoned channels. The initial talks are devoted to, first, the physical creation of former channel features through channel abandonment and, second, to the seasonal and decadal changes in aquatic plants and macroinvertebrate biota. The next two talks will discuss the aquatic and semi-aquatic phases of development, highlighting a large-scale restoration project of fish habitat in northern Japan and aquatic vegetation and macroinvertebrate patterns in the semi-arid systems of France and California. The next session will detail case studies of abiotic and biotic controls on the recruitment of pioneer forests in abandoned channels. The last session will be devoted to understanding the human elements of abandoned channel habitats. A case study of abandoned channel management in France will be presented discussing why restoration objectives should begin to focus more on human benefits (i.e. ecosystem services, human perceptions and flood management) rather than trying to re-create past environs. In addition, we will pursue the possibility of combining the research presented here into a publishable format with a set of articles detailing the dynamics of abandoned channel habitats and the conservation management implications.