John Richard 'Rick' Stepp is an anthropologist and

ethnobiologist ] Ethnobiology is the multidisciplinary Academic discipline, field of study of relationships among peoples, Biota (ecology), biota, and environments integrating many perspectives, from the social sciences, social, biology, biological, and medicin ...

who currently holds the position of UF Research Foundation Professor at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. Stepp was previously the G. P. Wilder Professor of Botany at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. His work examines the strong relationship between

biological diversity Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Eart ...

and

cultural diversity Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to Monoculturalism, monoculture. It has a variety of meanings in different contexts, sometimes applying to cultural products like art works in museums or entertainment ...

. Stepp studied ecology at the Universities of Florida and Georgia under the tutelage of

Howard T. Odum Howard Thomas Odum (September 1, 1924 – September 11, 2002), usually cited as H. T. Odum, was an American ecologist. He is known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology, and for his provocative proposals for additional laws of thermodyna ...

, Eugene P. Odum, Frank Golley and Bernard Patten. His PhD advisor in ecological anthropology was

Brent Berlin Overton Brent Berlin (born 1936) is an American anthropologist, most noted for his work with linguist Paul Kay on color, and his ethnobiological research among the Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1964. ...

. He has also been involved in research on the importance of

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

s as

medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

for indigenous peoples. He serves as a regional governor for Slow Food USA. He has served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ethnobiology from 2005 to 2008 and from 2021 to present, has presided the

Society for Ethnobotany The Society for Ethnobotany (formerly Society for Economic Botany) is an international learned society covering the fields of ethnobotany and economic botany. It was established in 1959. In 2022 the Society voted to change its name from the Socie ...

(2014-15) and the International Society of Ethnobiology (2018-2022).

References

Living people Ethnobiologists 21st-century American botanists Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-botanist-stub