What are the adaptations of vines in the rainforest?

Question

What are the adaptations of vines in the rainforest?

Answer 1

Vines deal with the low light levels of rainforests by climbing up into the canopy (tree species have to wait until another tree falls, or is blown down to create a light gap). Vines have different ways of doing this, although the most common way in rainforest is twining. Others use tendrils (modified shoots that wind around other plants), or small clusters of roots from the stems that attach to another plant. Occasionally there are species that use hooks or thorns to do this.

Answer 2

Based on light they need, there are two different sorts of vines growing up either in light patches ( oppertunistic vines ) or dark patches ( skototropistic ).

Vines can grow very, very long ( up to 3000 feet ) to climb up to the highest trees.

Tendrils, hooks etc in a self trellising system and hormones to trigger a curl reaction in the optimum direction.

Leaf changes to adjust to larger or smaller amounts of light.

More details:

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCou...

Answer 3

Vines can have active or passive methods of attaching to their support.

Vines can have a sense of touch, they respond to external contact and change as a result. This type of rapid response is  called thigmonastic movement if it is reversible or thigmotropic if it is permanent.

Small modified stems or leaves respond to contact by coiling their tip. This works to clasp and secure support.  Some have a secondary coiling of the tendril close to the vines stem. This acts to draw the vine in close to its support.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/ful...

The vine Monstera gigantea finds potential host trees by their shadows. The vines detect and grow towards the darkest region of their area. This has led to a new term for this, skototropism (growth toward darkness) or the reverse of phototropism.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Sci......

Rattans or the climbing palms are rapid growing but very flexible. Since they reach extreme lengths they have special water transport needs. Climbers have wider water transport vesicles than nonclimbing palm species. Rattan stems are often coiled at their base or draped in trees but rarely root so have very long water pathways.

http://www.virtualherbarium.com/PDF%20Fi...

Rattans have longer & stiffer leaf sheaths than nonclimbing palms. Rattan sheaths persist so act to support the vine's position in a tree.

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X9923E/x99...