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<br />of time, and of lesser magnitude than the changes <br />in snow conditions required to produce them. <br /> <br />However, some parts of the mountain ecosystem are <br />much more susceptible to changes in snow conditions <br />than others, so important local effects are possible. <br />In general, these susceptible components are very <br />small parts of the entire system but their economic <br />or esthetic value may be much greater than their <br />mass or area suggest. Remedial action is possible <br />in most of these cases but has not been studied in <br />this project. Our work has shown three ecosystem <br />components to be most susceptible to increased <br />snowfall: 1) snowbank situations at elevations above <br />treeline; (2) elk herds (in other mountain ranges <br />other big game species may be similarly affected); <br />and 3) some small mammal populations, especially <br />the deer mouse. Not all of these impacts are <br />necessarily deleterious; an increase in the area of <br />snowbank edge habitats in alpine area may, for example, <br />increase the niches available for rare plant species. <br /> <br />Finally, even in the small areas where we predict <br />greatest impacts from increased snowfall, the changes <br />involved are unlikely to approach the magnitude of <br />other man-made impacts on mountain ecosystems. How- <br />ever, it should be remembered that they may act in <br />phase with other man-made impacts and with natural <br />climatic changes, in which case the total effect <br />could be much greater than our studies suggest. <br /> <br />LITERATURE CITED <br /> <br />Freeman, R. A. 1975. Ecological <br />in an alpine lake ecosystem. <br />Dept. Fisheries and Wildlife <br />State University, p. 79. <br /> <br />kinetics of silver <br />Ph.D. thesis. <br />Biology, Colorado <br /> <br />Kahan, A. M. 1972. Status of cloud seeding -- <br />1972. In: Watersheds in Transition (ed., <br />S. C. Csallany, T. G. McLaughlin and W. D. <br />Striffler). Amer. Water Resources Assoc., <br />Urbana, Ill. p. 206-211. <br /> <br />United States Geological Survey. 1970, 1972, 1973. <br />Water resources data for Colorado. Part 2. <br />Water Quality Records. U.S.G.S. Water Res. <br />Divn. Denver, Colorado. <br /> <br />16 <br />