This collection represents a unique set of essays on the role of theory in shaping the practice of medicine across disciplinary boundaries. In the context of this volume, theory relates to the conceptual models, frameworks, knowledge representations, metaphors and analogies that inform the problem-solving efforts of practitioners seeking to develop novel dialogues both within and across disciplinary boundaries. Contributors to this volume include computational scientists, chemists, medical researchers, biologists and philosophers, all drawing on personal experience in their respective fields to produce a genuinely interdisciplinary range of perspectives on the common theme of theory in medical thinking and multidisciplinary research practice. This title contains selected and edited papers from the 10th North American Forest Soils Conference held in Saulte Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, July 20-24, 2003. It is a unique spin-off from Elsevier's highly regarded journal, "Forest Ecology and Management". It contains an estimated 400 pages of the latest findings in forest soil ecology from the most prominent researchers in the field.