This book brings out the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on the taxonomy, biodiversity, and ecology of climbers in India. Climbing is one of the principal plant growth habits that have long attracted the interests of ecologists and evolutionary biologists. Climbing plants can add significantly to the species richness of many tropical forests ecosystems, yet they receive relatively lesser attention than trees in ecological studies. The difficulties in taxonomic assertions and lack of standard methodologies overlook climbers in plant inventories, resulting in the underrepresentation of climbers in regional floras. There is a growing consensus about the increasing abundance of climbers and their multifaceted role in tropical forests worldwide. Therefore, it is essential to understand the taxonomic diversity and ecology of climbers at the regional scale to substantiate our efforts towards constructing a global climber database, which serves as a reference for fundamental research in climber ecology and evolution. This book is of interest to biodiversity researchers, taxonomists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists. Field biologists, forest managers, and naturalists will also find this a useful read.
Author(s): Vivek Pandi
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 927
City: Singapore
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
About the Author
1: Climbers-A General Overview
References
2: Overview of the Research on Climbers from the Past to the Present: A Global Analysis
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Literature Survey and Classification of Research Themes
2.3 Geographical Distribution of Research on Climbers
2.4 Phytosociology
2.5 Tree-Liana Interaction
2.6 Lianas in Forest Management Practices
2.7 Positive Impacts: Animal Plant Interactions; Ethnobotany; Phytochemistry; Carbon Stock
2.8 Functional Traits: Morphology, Anatomy, and Physiology
References
3: Ecology of Lianas: Diversity and Distribution
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Factors Determining Liana Diversity and Abundance
3.3 Synthesis
3.4 Increase in Liana Biomass and Abundance: Evidence from India´s Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests
References
4: Current Status and Future Prospects
4.1 Climber Research: Current Status and Future Prospects
References
5: Taxonomic Diversity of Climbing Flora in India: A Compendium
5.1 Overview
5.2 An Overview of the Climbing Flora of India
5.2.1 Taxonomic Diversity
5.3 Climbing Flora of India: A Compendium
5.4 Learnings and Recommendations
5.5 Data Availability
References
6: Climber Radiations in Angiosperms: How Many Families Have Climbers?
6.1 Overview
6.2 Methodology
6.3 Results and Discussion
6.4 Conclusion
References
