Useful context: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liana" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liana</a><p>> “The word liana does not refer to a taxonomic grouping, but rather a habit of plant growth – much like tree or shrub.“
There is a tree that survives lightning strikes, and thrives, because the lightning kills all the surrounding lianas, and also other competing trees.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/11/nx-s1-5357412/lightning-tree-dipteryx-oleifera" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/2025/04/11/nx-s1-5357412/lightning-tree-...</a>
> "All plants grow faster with more CO₂, but lianas benefit even more."<p>I have read other articles (by climate scientists) that say that the increase on CO₂ is not sufficient for this to be significant.<p>> "We shouldn't intervene until we fully understand their ecological role"<p>Given the dramatic damage he says it is doing in some areas, surely cutting them in at least those areas would make sense?
> The leaves that make lianas ultra-efficient reflect more light and infrared radiation than tree foliage.<p>> "Tree leaves tilt, allowing light to reach lower neighbors—even the forest floor gets some sunlight. But lianas leave almost nothing for others."<p>But that seems like a mechanism that could help reduce rising temperature
> He attributes this to rising atmospheric CO₂ levels. "All plants grow faster with more CO₂, but lianas benefit even more<p>And yet this extra growth all around because of co2 means that the will be more co2? This seems incoherent.<p>Pet peeve - if the article hooks you with a line like 'visible from space' they should provide the imagery so I can see for myself. But there's no picture.
Trees have nothing to do with global warming. It is entirely caused by coal and oil. The only meaningful carbon storage would be pumping it back into the ground.<p>Let's not personify and demonize vines as a casus belli to destroy the environment in the name of saving it, please.
> it's visible from space (phys.org)<p>Misleading headline again (this is a pattern), they are not visible from space, they can be estimated based on satellite images using a complex model. That's not at all what common people understand by "visible".