Prof. Dr. Rainer W. Bussmann is a vegetation ecologist and an ethnobotanist. He is Head and Full Professor at the Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Georgia. Before moving to Georgia, he was director of William L. Brown Center at Missouri Botanical Garden, USA. He held academic appointments as Associate Professor of Botany and Scientific Director of Harold Lyon Arboretum at University of Hawaii, USA and Assistant Professor at University of Bayreuth, Germany. He holds affiliate appointments and serves as external thesis advisor at universities worldwide. He has authored over 330 peer-reviewed papers, over 1200 peer-reviewed book chapters, and authored or edited 38 books. According to Stanford University, he is recognized among the 2% most influential scientists worldwide. He is past President of the Society for Economic Botany and has served as board/council member of the Botanical Society of America, and International Society of Ethnobiology.