The application of ecological concepts to ethnobotanical studies, in particular of diversity, is analyzed. Diversity indices are important tools that may help in understanding human-environment interactions. Those indices allow comparisons on the use of plants by different populations in different environments. A review on recent major ethnobotanical journals was carried out, and 10 studies (from Latin America, 2 from Asia and 1 from Europe) were selected based on available data to calculate diversity indices. The Shannon-Wiener indices and rarefaction curves were obtained. High diversity on plant uses were found for studies carried out at Peru, Mexico, Brazil and Thailand. A low diversity was found for Tonga, and island biogeography theory is used to discuss these results. Sampling effort is evaluated through rarefaction curves. 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