Evolutionary implications of the climbing habit in plants

This chapter discusses the evolutionary relevance of climbing plants from several lines of evidence based on bibliographic surveys, meta-analyses of published literature, and population genetics data. First, it provides an updated assessment of the prevalence and taxonomic distribution of climbing plant species, showing that over one-third of all seed plant families and three-quarters of all dicot orders have climbers. Next, the chapter discusses whether there is an association between specialized climbing mechanisms and species richness within families. It addresses whether the climbing habit is an evolutionary key innovation that has allowed climbing clades to become more species-rich than their non-climbing sister groups. The chapter further compares population differentiation in climbing vs. non-climbing species in temperate forests of southern South America and shows that temperate climbers have higher levels of genetic differentiation among populations than do non-climbers.