Habitat Conditions and Tree Species Shape Liana Distribution in a Subtropical Forest

Lianas are woody plants that require external support to reach the canopy. They expanding in forests worldwide, possibly due climate change and forest disturbance. Most studies on lianas have been conducted tropical forests. less explored subtropical We aimed document density diversity of lianas, test how habitat condition distribution tree species affect distributions based data from a fully mapped 20 ha plot China. analyzed association by fitting generalized linear model with family-level liana abundance as response variable family identity, its interaction terms topographic variables (slope, convexity, elevation, sin(aspect)), explanatory variables. focused spatial associations three 82 ?100 individuals using pair correlation function redundancy analysis. found total 1305 falling into 26 species, 16 families, plot. accounted for 1.5% individuals, 11.7% 0.4% basal area There were large variations respect four among contrasting former findings suggesting favor dry hot habitats. The most abundant showed non-random they tended positively associate similar but negatively different species. explained 21.8% variance distribution. Our study suggested both conditions composition intervene determining heterogeneity may be mechanism maintenance. provides basic understanding this contributes future planning conservation under change.