Almost 50% of the total area of Austria is forested, and the forests are dominated by commercially valuable stands of Norway spruce ( (Picea abies). The few remaining forests that resemble the natural vegetation composition are located in forest reserves with restricted management. These natural forests are used as reference systems for evaluating silvicultural research on sustainable forest management. Natural forests are expected to have high biodiversity, where the structural richness of the habitat enables complex relationships between fauna, flora, and microflora. They also provide refugia for rare plants and animals found only in natural forest types. Austria had 180 of these forest reserves up to the year 2003. Most of these forests are privately owned, and owners are compensated by the government for loss of income associated with conservation status. The Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forest Ecosystems (MCPFE) has launched a world-wide network of protected forest areas which should cover all major forest types (MCPFE and UNECE/FAO, 2003). The sites selected for our investigation of soil conditions and communities were chosen by vegetation ecologists and soil scientists. The stands have developed under natural competition conditions with no management interventions. All sites were well documented with known forest history. Our set of sites spans gradients of environmental conditions as well as species composition, providing a realistic evaluation of the interactions of biotic and abiotic factors.

John Sculley In the short history of personal computing, the task of the software programmer has been one of the least recognized-but one of the most significant-in the industry. In addition to defining the prob lems, and presenting the solutions, the software programmer is con fronted with the challenge of having to predict what combination of ideas and technologies will move the industry forward in the most compelling way. Even though we've seen the development of tremendous applications in a surprisingly short period of time, the most difficult problems often surface when we try to elevate a suc cessful local idea to the international arena. In the case of Apple Computer, these challenges become especially profound when you consider that Apple sells Macintosh not just in the United States, but in Japan, China, the Middle East, Africa, East ern Europe, and even to the United Nations itself. Of course, this means that the personal computer must work everywhere around the world. But more significantly, it also means that the software must reflect the uniqueness of a given culture, its language, morals, and even its sense of humor. To step away from a narrowly-defined, nationally-based paradigm for software development, programmers, management, and entire corporations must learn to recognize what elements of an interface, problem solving technique, documentation illustration, package de sign, and advertisement are local, and which elements are appro priate for global markets."

Knowledge in the field of acidic deposition is expanding rapidly, and both ex perts and non-experts are challenged to keep up with the latest information. We designed our assessment to include both the basic foundation needed by non experts and the detailed information needed by experts. Our assessment in cludes background information on acidic deposition (Chapter 1), an in-depth discussion of the nature of soil acidity and ecosystem H+ budgets (Chapter 2), and a summary of rates of deposition in the Southeastern U.S. (Chapter 3). A discussion of the nature of forest soils in the region (Chapter 4) is followed by an overview of previous assessments of soil sensitivity to acidification (Chapter 5). The potential impacts of acidic deposition on forest nutrition are described in the context of the degree of current nutrient limitation on forest productivity (Chap ter 6). The results of simulations with the MAGIC model provided evaluations of the likely sensitivity of a variety of soils representative of forest soils in the South (Chapter 7), as well as a test of soil sensitivity criteria. Our synthesis and recommendations for research (Chapter 8) also serve as an executive summary. A complementary volume in the Springer-Verlag Ecological Studies series should be consulted for information on European forests. This volume, Acidic Deposition and Forest Decline in the Fictelgebirge, edited by E.-D. Schultze and O.L. Lange, also provides greater detail on the physiologic responses of trees than we present in our regional assessment."

Almost 50% of the total area of Austria is forested, and the forests are dominated by commercially valuable stands of Norway spruce ( (Picea abies). The few remaining forests that resemble the natural vegetation composition are located in forest reserves with restricted management. These natural forests are used as reference systems for evaluating silvicultural research on sustainable forest management. Natural forests are expected to have high biodiversity, where the structural richness of the habitat enables complex relationships between fauna, flora, and microflora. They also provide refugia for rare plants and animals found only in natural forest types. Austria had 180 of these forest reserves up to the year 2003. Most of these forests are privately owned, and owners are compensated by the government for loss of income associated with conservation status. The Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forest Ecosystems (MCPFE) has launched a world-wide network of protected forest areas which should cover all major forest types (MCPFE and UNECE/FAO, 2003). The sites selected for our investigation of soil conditions and communities were chosen by vegetation ecologists and soil scientists. The stands have developed under natural competition conditions with no management interventions. All sites were well documented with known forest history. Our set of sites spans gradients of environmental conditions as well as species composition, providing a realistic evaluation of the interactions of biotic and abiotic factors.