Diversity and distribution of vines in the tropical forests of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India

This article elucidates the diversity and distribution of vines (climbing plants) in a biodiversity-rich part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats of India. A total of 59 vine taxa belonging to 44 genera of angiosperm families were recorded from the heterogeneous forest landscape of the Reserve. The lianas encountered in the six vegetation types fall under six climber categories of which twining was the chief climbing mechanism, both in terms of richness and abundance. With regard to species abundance, there was negative correlation between vines and trees. The coefficient of variation in species distribution among the different vegetation types was used to identify the oligarchy among vine species and establish that vines in different vegetation types are dominated by limited set of species. At the same time, 47% of the vines occurred in only one of the six vegetation types, which supports the environmental determinism hypothesis.