Vines Overwhelming Trees in Rain Forests
Channel: Voice of America
Date: 2011-08-31

Tropical rain forests in the American Hemisphere and other regions of the world are changing rapidly.  Studies conducted over recent decades indicate that increasingly, most of the trees in South and Central American rain forests must compete for light and nutrients with "lianas" or woody vines.  Studies also show that lianas are growing so abundant as a result of climate change and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that they are overwhelming their host trees, and in some cases, killing them.  VOA's Zulima Palacio recently examined the problem in Panama's rainforest with a scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.