Diversity of Lianas in Kenting Uplifted Coral Reef Forest, Southern Taiwan

A 0.8 ha transect (400 x 20 m) was set up in the Kenting uplifted coral reef forest for liana investigation and long-term monitoring. The transect was divided into eighty 10 x 10 m subplots, and the species, dbh, climbing mechanism of all the liana with a dbh ≧ 1 cm were recorded. Fourty-three liana species, belong to 23 families, were recoded; the density was 1406 stem ha-1 and the basal area were 0.84 m2 ha-1. The families Fabaceae, Apocynaceae, Rubiaceae, and Vitaceae had more species recorded, while the family Fabaceae, Malpighiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Convolvulaceae and Celastraceae had higher important value. Caesalpinia crista, Pueraria montana, Hiptage benghalensis and Erycibe henryi were the dominant liana species in this forest. Of the five climbing mechanism recognized among the 43 species, 20 with twining stem (46.5%), 16 with hooks or spines (37.2%), and only 4 with twining tendrils (9.3%), 2 with adhesive root or tendril (4.7%), 1 with twining branch (2.3%). Liana represents 36.1% of the woody species in this forest, which is higher than the usual reports in tropical area (mean ≒ 25%) and the average record in Taiwan (19.7%). The ratio of hooks or scramblers climbing mechanism species of this forest was significant higher than the other reports in tropical forest. The possible reasons were discussed.