Ethnobotanical Innovations: Exploring Traditional Plant Uses for Modern Solutions

Submission Deadline: 31 January 2026 View: 303 Submit to Special Issue

Guest Editors

Dr. Irina Kiseleva

Email: irina.kiseleva@urfu.ru

Affiliation: Department of Experimental Bioloy and Biotechnology, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620062, Russia

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Research Interests: plant biochemistry, secondary metabolism in plants, biologically active compounds, antioxidants

Dr. Alexander Ermoshin

Email: alexander.ermoshin@urfu.ru

Affiliation: Department of Experimental Bioloy and Biotechnology, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620062, Russia

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Research Interests: plant biochemistry, secondary metabolism in plants, biologically active compounds, antioxidants, plant biotechnology

Summary

Ethnobotany is the most ancient practice of interaction between humans and plants. Food, medicine, clothing, building materials, fuel  this is an incomplete list of what plants give to mankind. Ethnobotany as a science studies not only the plant species traditionally used by people, but also their ecology, geography, chemical composition, and metabolism of these plants, as well as the practice of using plants in folk and official medicine, religion, everyday life in different ethnic groups, countries, on different continents. Even though plant resources have long been studied by scientists, many plant species are still poorly studied from the point of view of their practical application. And we know even less about the primary and secondary metabolism of these plants, the action of biologically active compounds in them, and the prospects for their use. A thorough study of plants in the context of ethnobotany is also necessary because many of the wild plant species used by mankind are rare or even on the verge of extinction. Therefore, it is important to study the methods of cultivating these plants in vitro with subsequent use in biotechnological systems. Moreover, understanding the ways of use, biological effects, specific chemical composition, and physiology of plants, traditionally used by different ethnic groups can bring new promising technologies to solve the most important problems in health care and food production. Thus, the special issue "Ethnobotany" will bring valuable insights into our understanding of the plant resources in the Biosphere and the possibility of their use by humanity.

Potential subjects for this topic include, but are not limited to:
· Plants as the source of remedies, additives, antioxidants, biostimulants for agricultural plants and animals, pesticides (herbicides, enterotoxins, fungicides), etc.
· Biologically active compounds of plants: chemical composition and effects.
· The effect of climate change on the growth and development of plants, traditionally used by different ethnic groups.
· Biotechnologies for plants traditionally used by different ethnic groups.
· Secondary metabolism and cutting-edge technologies and AI tools for metabolomics.

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