Proceedings of the Second Conference of the ICPS, Bonn, Germany, 1998 15 zooplankton as prey; j) oligo-mesotrophic water. Aldrovanda grows in shallow standing dystrophic waters, but only in loose stands of emergent vegetation (Phragmites, Typha, Carex) or in little bays among tussocks of denser vegetation. Generally, small habitat changes may result in the decline of Aldrovanda. Its decline has been caused mainly by water eutrophication, drainage, and filling in of water bodies. Its outdoor culture mimics habitat conditions at natural sites. In a culture, about a 3 cm layer of litter of robust Carex species, placed over 5-8 cm of sand, is used as the bottom substrate. The container is loosely planted with sedges or common reed. Water depth is 20-30 cm. As Aldrovanda is susceptible to boron deficiency, boric acid must be added. Turions overwinter well in the refrigerator. As outdoor cultivation can be still problematic in-vitro culture offers hopeful perspectives to be used for scientific and nature conservation projects dealing with ecophysiological studies, keeping of gene-pool stock, and (re)introduction activities. Very recently, growing Aldrovanda in-vitro has been managed successfully. Great effort has been made to select new suitable sites in the Czech Republic. The plants placed in nylon enclosures in three shallow dystrophic wetlands in N. and S. Bohemia grew rapidly and reproduced 8-34 times over the 1994 season. Approximately 10-50 % of the turions overwintered. When 30 Aldrovanda plants were introduced to the suitable sites in S. Bohemia (Trebon region) in 1995, the plants grew rapidly only in a Carex rostrata-dominated pool. Turions overwintered perfectly and in the 1996- 1997 seasons, the plants propagated richly, forming an abundant population. Its total size was about 6,000 shoot apices in 1996 while 11,000 ones in 1997. Water level at the sites in summer has been found to be the crucial factor for rapid growth and propagation of Aldrovanda. The water level was very low in 1995, but high in 1996 and 1997. Thus, a new prolific site arose in S. Bohemia, where Aldrovanda had never grown. Ecology and Distribution of Utricularia Species in India M.K. Janarthanam ; Department of Botany, Goa University, Goa - 403 206, India e-mail: jana@unigoa.ernet.in The genus Utricularia is known to occur in almost every country of the world, but the majority of the species are mostly distributed in seasonally wet and high rainfall receiving tropical and subtropical regions (Taylor 1989). India is known for its varied habitats and climate which is responsible for the high diversity in species of Utricularia. About 35 species are recognised under the genus for the Indian political boundary (Janarthanam & Henry, 1992). These belong to eight sections with high diversity seen in section Oligocista with 18 species for the region followed by section Phyllaria and Utricularia with five species each. Remaining sections are represented by either one or two species each. Based on their habitats, the species can be broadly classified into one of the following categories: i) floating / suspended aquatics, ii) rooted marshy terrestrials and iii) partial epiphytes. The floating or suspended aquatics are distributed almost throughout the country, at least sporadically. Their habitat is usually stagnant or slow flowing fresh water. Rooted marshy terrestrials show high diversity in their habitats varying from wet lateritic rocks to moss covered water dripping rocks and fast flowing streams in which black boulders form the substrate. The whole of section Oligocista belong to this type. Most of these are distributed along the Western Ghats and West Coast of Southern India. There is lot of variation in microhabitats which is also reflected in inter and intraspecific variation. A high amount of intraspecific variation is seen in the species which are distributed widely and in several microhabitats. However, it is noticed that the marshy terrestrial species which are recorded across the continents are very rare and that two are recorded from lower to medium elevations from the inland. Based on the distribution and diversity, the following two centres of species diversity is recognised for the genus Utricularia in India: 1) Eastern Himalayas, where the partial epiphytes with appendaged seeds (sect. Phyllaria) are mostly distributed and 2) the Western Ghats and West Coast, where the species of section Oligocista with several endemic species are distributed. It is observed that the world's highest rainfall receiving station situated in the state of Meghalaya in North East is very poor in species diversity, suggesting that high rainfall alone