Climbing plants, including lianas, represent a fascinating component of the ecology of tropical forests. This book focuses on the climbing plants of West African forests. Based on original research, it presents information on the flora (including a checklist), diversity (with overviews at several levels of integration), ecology (distribution, characteristics in relation to environment, their role in forest ecosystems) and ethnobotany. Forestry aspects, such as their impact on tree growth and development, and the effects of forestry interventions on climbers are also covered.

Forest climbers in West Africa: Introduction, F Bongers, M P E Parren M D Swaine, University of Aberdeen, UK, and D Traore; A botanical synopsis of the lianas and other forest climbers, C C H Jongkind, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and W D Hawthorne, University of Oxford, UK; On censusing lianas: a review of common methodologies, M P E Parren, F Bongers, G Caballe, Unite Mixte de Recherche, France, J Nabe-Nielsen, The Royal Veterinarian and Agricultural University, Denmark, and S A Schnitzer, University of Wisconsin, USA; The role of lianas in gap regeneration and in community wide species richness, S A Schnitzer and F Bongers; Climber abundance, diversity and colonisation in degraded forests of different ages in Cote d'lvoire, M E Kuzee and F Bongers, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; Climbing plants in Ghanaian forests, M D Swaine; W D Hawthorne, F Bongers, and M Toledo Aceves, University of Aberdeen, UK; Climbers in forest fragments in Togo, K Kokou, Universite du Benin. Benin, and G Caballe; Taxonomic diversity of climbers in riparian forests in Benin A K Natta and B Sinsin, Cotonou, Benin; The climbers of a semi-deciduous forests in Cote d'lvoire: the case of Haut Sassandra, D T Etien and D Traore, University of Cocody, Cote d'lvoire; Taxonomy, population dynamics and utilisation of the rattan palms of Upper Guinea, T C H Sunderland, V Beligne and L Bonnehin, Cote d'lvoire, E Ebanyenle and A Oteng-Amoako, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Ghana, and E-J Zouzou; Utilisation of climbers in two forests reserves in western Cote d'lvoire, H F Tra Bi, Universite de'Abobo-Adjame, Cote d'lvoire, F N' Kouame, University of Cocody, Cote d'lvoire, and D Traore; Logging and lianas in West Africa, M P E Parren and F Doumbia; Climbers after logging: the case of Haut Sassandra, F N' Kouame, D Traore, F Bongers and L Poorter, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; Management of climbers in the forests of West Africa, M P E Parren and F Bongers