Abundance Variations of Tracers and their Effects on our Determination of Molecular Cloud Structure

Our understanding of the molecular phase of the interstellar medium is critically dependent on use of various lines from different molecular species to trace this dense material. As our knowledge of molecular clouds becomes more refined, and we pursue in detail issues of molecular cloud structure, stability, and how star formation depends on and affects the molecular gas, it is appropriate to examine the basis by which we determine the morphology of clouds, their density, and other key parameters. This is obviously a major undertaking, well beyond the scope of the short presentation at this conference, so I will concentrate on one very basic, but critical issue, which is that of abundance variations of tracers of density and molecular column density which are widely used to delineate the denser portions of all types of molecular clouds. In this summary, I will first highlight some of the apparent indications of significant variations of abundance within individual clouds, as a way of indicating some potential dangers and the importance of the molecular tracer selected. I will also briefly suggest how such variations may be themselves important diagnostics of cloud structure and evolution