Thesis (M.S.)--Utah State Agricultural College, 1938. / Title from title screen (viewed Aug. 14, 2009). Department: Botany. Includes bibliographical references. Archival copy available in print.

It was the purpose of this study to determine what aquatic plants were common to central Utah and to outline the ecological factors that control their distribution. The main emphasis throughout has been upon the more macroscopic aquatic plants. Such algae were included as was warranted by their size,, abundance and importance in the various habitats in which they grew. As this study progressed it became evident that there was a need for a broad survey-type study of the aquatic plants that would include essentially all of the wet lands of the central Utah region. The area of study closely corresponds to the boundaries of Utah County, although some collections were made outside the county, particularly to the east, in Wasatch County. The study was initiated in the spring of 1955 and field work was done during the summers of 1956, 1957, and 1959.

The aquatic and semi-aquatic plant communities of Utah Lake, Utah County, Utah are discussed. This discussion includes the methods of describing and delimiting the major vascular plant communities, the descriptions of the present existent communities, and the determination of the vegetational changes, particularly since 1925. The vegetation around Utah Lake is divided into plant communities. Each community is discussed using: (a) quantitative data, (b) field observations, (c) general and specific locations of the community, and (d) interrelationships and trends of the community. Historical vegetational changes of Utah Lake plant communities are discussed. In this discussion, the plant communities described by Cottam in 1925 are examined in broad outline and then in detail. In 1968, twenty-nine plant communities had developed from fifty-six per cent of the associations and twenty-nine per cent of the societies that were described by Cottam in 1925.