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Epiphyte Diversity on Avenue Trees of National and State Highways of Udupi District, Karnataka, India

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Botany, Bhandarkar’s Arts and Science College, Kundapura, Udupi District, Karnataka, INDIA
  • 2 Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Udupi, Karnataka, INDIA

Int. Res. J. Biological Sci., Volume 2, Issue (5), Pages 30-39, May,10 (2013)

Abstract

The epiphytic diversity on avenue trees was assessed in one national highway and two state highways of Udupi district, Karnataka. The study showed that diversity of epiphytes on woody substratum comparatively similar in two state highways and one national highway of the study area, but recorded high abundance of epiphytes on fast growing, exotic tree varieties in national highways as compared to the state highways. There is no significant difference between Shannon’s diversity and Pielou's evenness values between National Highway 66 (2.183, 0.878) and State Highways (2.304, 0.927). The abundance of encountered epiphytic species belongs to Family Orchidaceae. The native avenue trees with larger girth supported more epiphyte species in both the national and state highways.

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