The proposed project considers conventional research methods adopted in standard ecosystem monitoring schemes as well as interdisciplinary approaches for studying connection between societies and landscapes, particularly, the ethnoecological approach. Although ethnography has a long history of research in Georgia and ethnobotanical and ethnomycological studies were particularly intensified in the recent decade, focus on traditional forms of natural resource management and the ways in which peasants maintain and use biodiversity in drylands is novel for modern-day Georgia.

The proposed project considers conventional research methods adopted in standard ecosystem monitoring schemes as well as interdisciplinary approaches for studying connection between societies and landscapes, particularly, the ethnoecological approach. Although ethnography has a long history of research in Georgia and ethnobotanical and ethnomycological studies were particularly intensified in the recent decade, focus on traditional forms of natural resource management and the ways in which peasants maintain and use biodiversity in drylands is novel for modern-day Georgia.