Liana composition and diversity among tropical forest types of peninsular India

This chapter describes variation in species composition, density, climbing mechanisms and dispersal syndromes of lianas across four principal forest types of peninsular India. The forest types include: wet evergreen forest (WEF), semi-evergreen forest (SEF), seasonal dry forest (SDF), and dry evergreen forest (DEF). The chapter compares the characteristics of Indian lianas to those reported for other forests around the world. It presents a table that summarizes the details of the 40 study sites, including the forest type, altitude, the forest stature, the mean annual rainfall, the length of the dry season and the sample design. The distribution of lianas in the four forest types showed a pronounced dominance by a limited subset of species. Five climbing mechanisms were employed by lianas in the four forest types. The lianas of SDF and DEF sites displayed four different climbing mechanisms.