This PhD thesis aims to assess the change in composition and development of the botanical community in Greenheart forest as a result of logging and logging-related damage. It furthermore aims to contribute to the sustainable management of Guyana's Greenheart forest and to evaluate various hypotheses on the maintenance of biodiversity. The study explores plant species composition and their abundance in unexploited Greenheart forest and analyses plant species composition at different times after logging. The effects of conventional logging (with high logging intensities and damage) on plant species composition and abundance were evaluated, specifically looking at the influence of skid trails and gap sizes. Growth forms included in this study are herbs, shrubs, palms, lianas, epiphytes and trees. In total, 24 one-ha plots of Greenheart forest were enumerated, both in unexploited and exploited forest. Every examined growth form showed their own responses to logging at different spatial scales. Lianas were the most responsive to logging-induced changes in the environment and showed the highest relative increase in species numbers. Gaps, skid trails, forest patches with increased light levels, and 'undisturbed' forest all showed their own characteristic set of liana species. As a result of this study, nine recommendations concerning forest management were formulated, including specific recommendations for lianas. Most studies monitoring the reactions of the forest ecosystem to disturbance (logging) focus on the tree component of the forest. However, the liana vegetation showed logging-induced diversity patterns earlier in time. Within the lianas different functional groups could be distinguished comparable to those already described for trees. Growth rates of lianas are hardly known but are expected to be higher than those of trees. Lianas, therefore, can be used to assess the effects of logging damage in a shorter time-span than required when studying these effects on the basis of trees.