Dr Stefan A. Schnitzer has studied tropical forest ecology in Borneo, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Panama.  He is currently a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, and a Research Associate with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the Republic of Panama. 

Frans Bongers has studied lianas for 20 years, analysing liana communities, populations and autecology, as well as liana use and management, mostly in the context of forest dynamics. He is Professor of Tropical Forest Ecology  at Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Robyn J. Burnham is Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan and a Research Associate at Smithsonian Institution, Field Museum, and Missouri Botanical Garden. She has a dedicated focus on the species of climbing plants that dominate the Amazon Basin, from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and all the way across Brazil, to the mouth of the Amazon river. 

Francis E. Putz started his research on liana ecology and management in the 1970s in Southeast Asia, but has since spent an equal amount of time in Latin America researching vines and forest conservation. He is a Professor at the University of Florida and a Senior Research Associate with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia.