While vines e.g. ivy in this country (the UK) may not have much of a damaging effect on trees that have "got away" into the canopy, they are liable to shade out the natural (or planted) regeneration necessary to the next generation of high forest.

Poison ivy is primary a threat to the understory but it may affect adult trees by competing directly with trees for water and nutrients. Trumpet Creeper and Grape will compete directly for light and may influence tree growth and mortality rates. This is just one of a number of studies that indicate that vines may be responding to environmental changes like increasing co2.

hello BP. I am a 40 acre woodland owner in the UK. "Forests" is one of the subjects I monitor, here. Search for "forests" in JICWyllie's clips. If you tag pertinent clips "forests" and we become each other's Followers, then we can benefit from each other's monitoring. Clipmarks does not make collaboration easy, but the potential for collaborative research is immense.

Hello JIC,

I am a researcher who studies floodplain forest in the SE US. I authored several papers on the impacts of hurricanes on forests including large woody vines. I suppect email would be a better way to collaberate.