Dr Zbyněk POLESNY

My studies are focused on tropical and subtropical useful plants and their environment with the aim to preserve plant species diversity and related traditional knowledge in natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes. Studies of traditional knowledge of indigenous people and small-scale farmers on use patterns, management and ecology of the most culturally important as well as neglected and underutilized plant species as sources of food, medicine and materials are of my special interest. Principal research activities include ethnobiological/ethnobotanical inventories and market surveys, documentation of traditional ecological knowledge in different cultural groups, migrants’ ethnobotany, agrobiodiversity management in homegardens and allotments, informal seed systems along with agrobiodiversity conservation, wild food plants’ ethnobotany and taxonomy of tropical and subtropical plants, particularly wild and locally cultivated food species.