A liana is a long-stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. The main goal of this book is to present the current status of liana ecology in tropical and temperate forests. In essence, it is a forum to summarize and synthesize the most recent research in liana ecology and to address how this research fits into the broader field of ecology.