1.Introduction.- Section I: Temperate forest-grassland ecotones: prairies, steppes, and pampas.- 2. Woodland-grassland ecotonal shifts in environmental mosaics: lessons learnt from the environmental history of the Carpathian Basin (Central Europe) during the Holocene and the last ice age based on investigation of paleobotanical and mollusk remains.- 3. Ecotones as complex arenas of disturbance, climate and human impacts: the trans-Andean forest-steppe ecotone of northern Patagonia.- 4. Woody-Herbaceous-Livestock Species Interaction.- 5. Woody plant invasions in Pampa grasslands - a biogeographical and community assembly perspective.- Section II: Tropical forest-grassland ecotones: old fields, savannas, and llanos.- 6. Post-agricultural ecotones in Puerto Rico.- 7. South Brazilian forest-grassland ecotones: Dynamics affected by climate, disturbance and woody species traits.- 8.Long-term perspectives on Tropical forest-savanna dynamics in lowland Bolivia from the last ice age until the present.- 9.Using palaeoecological data to define main vegetation dynamics along the savanna-forest ecotone in Colombia: implications for accurate assessment of human impacts.- Section III: Boral and cloud forest-grassland ecotones: páramo and alpine grasslands.- 10. The dynamic history of the upper forest line ecotone in the northern Andes.- 11. Climatic drivers of tree growth and recent recruitment at the Pyrenean alpine tree line ecotone.- 12. The alpine treeline ecotone in the southernmost Swedish Scandes - dynamism on different scales.-13.How climate and fire disturbances influence contrasted dynamics of Picea glauca ecotones at alpine tree lines in Atlantic and continental eastern North Ameria.-Conclusions, synthesis, and future directions