by vines (Putz 1988). In fact, site disturbance often leads to an abundance of vine growth
(Webb 1958; Putz 1988; Putz 1984).

 Hommel (1987) suggested that vines might have prevented forest re-colonization
 on some abandoned fields on Krakatau, thus leaving the system in a scrub state of
 arrested succession. Bush and others (1995) disagree, suggesting that vines do not appear
 to have limited forest regeneration on Krakatau. In fact, they concluded that the
 detrimental effects of vines are certainly more obvious and prevalent on an individual
 tree basis than for entire communities. While Bush and others (1995) did not specifically
 support the theory that vines play some significant and beneficial role in succession of
 forested systems, they did not find any evidence against this theory. In fact, Friedland
 and Smith (1982) found that herbaceous vegetation rooted within experimental quadrats
 with vines actually grew taller and had greater mean overall dry biomass weights
 suggesting an increased growth rate of herbaceous vegetation when growing in
 competition with vines.

 In a removal and fertilization experiment on the effects of competitive
 suppression by vines, Gough and Grace (1997) found that fertilized plots, containing both
 vines and other vegetation, displayed no overall change in species richness or non-vine
 vegetative biomass accrual. Additionally, they found that non-vine vegetation biomass
 increased in sites where vines were removed, but that no significant change occurred in
 species richness. However, this contradicts Friedland and Smith's (1982) findings for
 herbaceous vegetation.

 Whigham (1984) also performed a removal experiment using the hardwood tree
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum). He found increased tree growth associated with
release from below ground vine competition. However, when the above-ground vine
biomass was removed from the trunks and crowns of trees without uprooting the vines,
Liquidambar styraciflua showed no improvement in growth.


 Successional Trends of Vines

 Some researchers have theorized a shift from herbaceous to woody vines in
forested ecosystems over time, and others have suggested that the climbing mode of vines
can be used as an estimation of forest maturity (Bush and others 1995; Putz and Chai
1987). In highly disturbed tropical forests and in early successional forests tendrillar
species are abundant. As forests mature, the abundance of twining species and root
climbers increases proportionately. Carter and others (1987) found that tendrillar vine
species are better adapted to climb the structures typical of closed canopy deciduous
forests, and are physiologically better adapted to low-light conditions than other vines
that have a variety of other climbing mechanisms. Considering the physiological
adaptations of early- versus later-successional plants, Carter and others (1987) suggest
that physiological performance on disturbed sites might be reduced for the tendrillar vine
species as opposed to the non-tendrillar vine species.