The Summer Water Budget and Its Importance in the Alpine Tundra of Colorado

Preliminary evidence is presented from plant phenology, plant productivity and enhanced snowpack, soil bacterial populations, and hydrology and stream water chemistry to demonstrate some ways in which water availability is a limiting factor in the alpine tundra of Colorado. We also consider the hypothesis that responses to perturbations will tend to facilitate ecosystem changes toward a state commensurate with the present climate. It is demonstrated that the water budget concept is effective, and has considerable potential, in aiding the understanding of ecological conditions of the alpine tundra.