2009/06/30 by Sandrine Isnard, Wendy Kuhn Silk · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics #Plant responses to elevated CO2 #Plant Diversity and Evolution
paper · doi:10.3732/ajb.0900045
openalex publication_date 2009/06/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We provide an overview of research on climbing plants from Charles Darwin to the present day. Following Darwin's interests, this review will focus on functional perspectives including attachment mechanisms and stem structure and function. We draw attention to a number of unsolved problems inviting future research. These include the mechanism for establishment of the twining habit, a quantitative description following the development of a tissue element through space and time, the chemistry of sticky exudates, the microstructure of xylem and the capacity for water storage, the vulnerability to embolism, and the mechanism for embolism repair. In conclusion we cite evidence that, in response to increasing CO(2) concentration, anthropic perturbation and/ or increasing forest fragmentation, lianas are increasing relative to tree species. In the 21st century, we are returning to the multiscale, multidisciplinary approach taken by Darwin to understand natural history.