Comparison of the global column density PDF in the Aquila cloud (blue histogram with statistical error bars, identical to that shown in Fig. 5a) to the column density PDF measured after subtraction of dense cores (red solid line) and the PDF measured after subtraction of both dense cores and filaments (black solid line with statistical error bars). The vertical dashed line marks the same fiducial threshold at as in Fig. 11. This plot illustrates that filaments make up a dominant (~50%–75%) fraction of the dense gas mass at A_V> 7–10, and that dense cores contribute only a small (≲15%) fraction of the dense gas (except perhaps at the very highest column densities). (Color figure is available in the online version.)