Wood wines could be accelerating climate change, according to a study by researchers from Marquette University. The researchers have discovered woody vines in tropical forests are preventing forests from curbing carbon.

The study has found that the presence of wooden vines known as lianas is decreasing the amount of carbon by tropical forests. In the presence of lianas, the amount of carbon absorbed by Panama’s tropical forest decreased by more than 70% per year, according to the study. It also predicted that the woody vines will reduce carbon storage in tropical forests by about 35% in next five decades.

Tropical forests are known for storing large amount of carbon. Due to their ability to store harmful carbon, tropical forests play an important role in global carbon cycle. Stefan Schnitzer, research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and co-author of the study, said the study has provided important information. Lianas’ presence in tropical forests could affect the way carbon is stored in trees.

The study was conducted by Schnitzer, a biology professor at Marquette University, Geertje van der Heijden, co-author the study, and Jennifer Powers, a professor at the University of Minnesota, in the Barro Colorado Nature Monument in Panama.

Author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said, “Increases in liana density may be partially responsible for the long term decline in the Amazonian carbon sink, which in term contributes to increasing atmospheric CO2 levels and accelerated climate change”.

“Their ecological effects appear to make them disproportionately important in carbon cycling,” Schnitzer said.

“The lianas shifted biomass accumulation away from wood, which stores carbon for a long time, to leaves, which recycle quickly and release carbon back into the atmosphere,” Schnitzer said.