Diversity and Distribution of Genus Trentepohlia Mart. (Chlorophyta) from North Karnataka, India

Diversity of the subaerial algae genus Trentepohlia Mart. was studied in 13 districts of North Karnataka, India. The presence of Trentepohlia species was examined in both forest and urban environments. The nine species (Trentepohlia aurea (Linnaeus) C Martius, Trentepohlia odorata (F. H. Wiggers) Wittrock, Trentepohlia abietina (Flotow ex Kützing) Hansgirg, Trentepohlia rigidula (J. Müller) Hariot, Trentepohlia effusa (Krempelhuber) Hariot, Trentepohlia annulata F. Brand, Trentepohlia thevalliensis M. V. N. Panikkar and P. Sindhu, Trentepohlia chapmanii Rindi and López-Bautista, Trentepohlia infestans Rindi and J. López-Bautista) and two varieties (Trentepohlia abietina var. corrugata (Leighton) Cribb, Trentepohlia abietina var. tenuis (Zeller) A. B. Cribb) of Trentepohlia were recorded from the different regions of North Karnataka. These documented species represent previously unreported taxa. Hence, these are considered as new distributional records from North Karnataka region. The survey of 13 districts conducted in the year 2022 – 2024 concluded that the physical factors like rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and light intensity plays important role in the growth of Trentepohlia species. The presence of Trentepohlia species was only in 3 districts (Dharwad, Belagavi and Haveri). Shannon diversity index was higher in Belagavi (2.02) followed by Dharwad (1.61) and the lowest diversity in Haveri (1.33) district.