Inland saline waters are threatened worldwide by diversion and pollution of their inflows, introductions of exotic species and economic development of these ecologically valuable habitats. Since 1979 a series of international symposia on inland saline waters has served to strengthen and expand the scope of limnological research on inland saline waters. The seventh conference continued this tradition and the papers derived from the conference focused on the ecology of microbial communities, the influence of habitat geochemistry on biogeography of flora and fauna, physical and geochemical processes and the conservation of inland saline waters. Of particular note are papers on Walker Lake, Nevada (USA), and the Salton Sea and Mono Lake, California (USA). Continued local, national and international efforts are required to inform the public and decision-makers about the environmental problems faced by saline waters. The papers in this volume serve this end and should be of interest to aquatic ecologists, limnologists, aquaculturalists and water resource managers.