@article{728351,
      recid = {728351},
      author = {Parthasarathy, N.,},
      title = {Biodiversity of lianas [electronic resource] /},
      pages = {1 online resource.},
      abstract = {The scope of biodiversity science is vast. The  conservation of the rich biological wealth of our planet  earth, sustainable use of biodiversity resources and their  wiser management become crucial and challenging. On-going  global changes exert their effect on biodiversity,  bio-resources and their use patterns for sustainable  development as to conserve them for generations to come.  The lianas or the woody climbers form one of the  fascinating groups of forest plant diversity, yet remain  relatively under-researched, as compared to trees. They  occur in temperate, sub-tropical and tropical forests, but  particularly diverse in tropical environments, and their  density is exceedingly high in dry tropics. Lianas have  both positive and negative contribution in forest ecology,  particularly the liana load on trees reduce tree growth and  enhance tree mortality. Lianas also play important positive  roles in forest functioning, contribute substantially to  forest aboveground biomass and render several ecosystem  services (rewarding leaf, flower and fruit resources ) to  various faunal communities, and provide several goods of  economic importance utilized by humans (from ropes, fruits  to medicine). That being the importance of lianas in forest  ecosystem, it calls for greater attention in sustainable  resource use and wiser management of biodiversity and  conservation for ecosystem well-being and human welfare.  This book covers chapters on original articles and reviews  from regional to global level contributions from various  parts of the world - from North America, South America,  Africa, Europe, China, South & Southeast Asia and  Australia. Many chapters address liana diversity in the  context of geographical, climate and various other  environmental attributes and discussed key issues on  biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of bioresources  and future direction of research useful for policy making  and bio-resources management in years to come, realizing  human dimensions in forest ecosystem.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/728351},
}