Species role in the networks
The finding of the current study showed that lianas and trees were predominantly specialists (i.e., peripherals), irrespective of edge disturbance or edge effects, indicating possible robustness of species roles to disturbance. A similar pattern was recorded in a moist semi-deciduous forest in Ghana (Addo-Fordjour et al., 2021). The high specialisation of the species in the networks shows that antagonism in the networks might have resulted in the evolution of specialisation in both liana and tree species (Maliet et al., 2020). The role of some of the liana and tree species was consistent in the forest sites, whiles other species roles changed from one site to another. This phenomenon indicates that edge effects probably caused a switch in the role of some of the species among the forest sites, while the role of other species remained unchanged. The change from specialist to generalist and vice versa, and from one form of generalist to another may be related to changes in species abundance and distribution following edge disturbance (Addo-Fordjour et al., 2021). Some of the species identified as structural important species (i.e., connectors, module hubs, network hubs) in our study were also reported as species that possessed structural importance in a moist semi-deciduous forest in Ghana (Addo-Fordjour & Afram, 2021). These plants which include two liana species (G . simplicifolia , C . africanus ) and three tree species (T . scleroxylon , N .papaverifera , C . mildbraedii ) may have unique functional roles that support the functioning of the forests.