Emergent Aquatic Plants in the Upper Ohio River and Major Navigable Tributaries, West Virginia and Pennsylvania

A cursory examination was made of aquatic macrophyte distribution along the 207 kilometer length of the Monongahela River, a 210 kilometer reach of the upper Ohio River, and the lower 116 kilometers of the Allegheny River where commercial navigation is maintained. Aquatic vascular plants were abundant and diverse in both the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. Significant qualitative differences were observed in the aquatic macroflora of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers that may be related to basic differences in the channel morphologies and the substrates of these two rivers. Aquatic plants, at least conspicuous emergent vegetation, were not abundant in the reach of the mainstem Ohio River that was examined.