作为结构型的寄生植物，藤本植物对热带和亚热带森林具有重要作用。它对叶投入较多资源，故对总鲜叶、凋落物或种子生物量的贡献可以高达40%，但对森林木本生物量贡献很少。藤本植物可对环境快速做出反应。比如水分有限时，藤本植物表现出与其共存树种不同的叶芽期和种子脱落期，因此它是森林食物网的主要参与者。有限的研究表明受森林退化和气候变化影响，藤本植物的数量可能大量增加，从而发挥更大的作用。本项目将比较西双版纳地区具有不同物种多样性，不同水分条件和不同营养条件的森林之间，藤本植物在食物网中的作用。我们将通过放置凋落物收集袋和种子陷阱来比较藤本和木本植物的凋落物分解状况以及种子数量，应用DNA宏条形码调查主要昆虫类群的食物来源，使用林冠层吊机比较藤本植物和树木的花数量、访花动物和食草动物。该项目有助于我们理解藤本植物在森林生态系统食物网中的关键作用，增加热带森林群落物种多样性结构和功能的认识。

Lianas (woody climbers) play an important role in tropical and subtropical forests. As structural parasites they invest little in stem biomass and contribute little to woody biomass of forests. However, their contribution to total fresh leaf, litter or seed biomass can be as high as ~ 40% in some forest types. Lianas are functionally different to trees: Many liana species have leaves with high SLA and high nutrient contents. Leaf flush, leaf and fruit shedding of some liana species occurs at different times of co-occurring trees, especially when water is limited. Due their abundance, nutrient quality and phenology, lianas are likely to influence foodweb structure significantly in forests, yet this has hardly been studied. If we want to understand the functional dynamics of forests we need to understand the contribution of lianas. Due to forest degradation and climate change lianas are expected to increase in abundance in the future. .In this project we will distinguish the relative contribution of trees and lianas to foodwebs in several forest types in Xishuangbanna, China, that differ in species composition, soil type and water availability. Xishuangbanna provides an excellent location, because of its diverse landscapes and forest types within a small region. We will study the role of liana leaves, litter, fruits and flowers as food resources for animals. Vice versa we will explore which animal groups function as pollinators and seed dispersers of lianas. .We will conduct litter bags experiments for decomposition by litter fauna, evaluate seed trap data over several years for seasonality and amount of liana vs tree seeds, use metabarcoding of DNA for analyzing ingested food source of insect communities, and investigate abundance of flower visitors, flower supply, herbivory levels and abundance of herbivorous larvae in liana and trees using a canopy crane. .This project will extend our knowledge of the role of lianas in forest communities by examining the contribution of lianas to animal food sources, which goes beyond diversity surveys and tree-liana competition studies.