Ethnobiology is concerned with understanding how human populations interact with and use fauna and flora, and more particularly with how cultural knowledge of the natural world is classified, constructed, and applied. A robustly interdisciplinary subject, it is mainly practiced through its subcomponents, such as ethnobotany. However, there are good reasons for looking at how humans relate to the diversity of other living organisms as a connected whole. Ethnobiological studies have made major contributions to cognitive anthropology, through the empirical examination of the relationship between categorical universals, ecology, and local cultural particularities. They have added significantly to our understanding of knowledge transmission, have played an important role in the development of participatory approaches and techniques of elicitation, and have contributed to the recognition of the practical relevance of indigenous knowledge and the ethical implications of its use.