| The recent increase in disease pressure on chestnut populations in Turkey compromises the livelihoods of thousands of growers, erodes the genetic diversity of the species, and threatens the viability of culturally important traditions around food and environmental maintenance. Currently, a number of endeavors are being attempted to conserve chestnut resources in several locations throughout the country. However, only a small percentage of the total number of trees can benefit and there is no method in place for the strategic selection of tree varieties or regions for the implementation of blight control. The geographic region of highest genetic diversity, domestication and longest-standing cultivation of the European chestnut is in Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus. This research will explore the features of local genetic stewardship in the face of a disease epidemic by considering ethnographic, genetic, epidemiological, plant morphological and ethnobotanical attributes of a single species in a single region, the European sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) in Turkey. The four chapters of this dissertation, respectively, 1.) argue for consideration of folk value -- defined as value to cultural cohesion and survival -- in agricultural plant conservation; 2.) capture an instance of humans-as-landscape-members through documentation of immediate human niche construction and, its corollary, cultural resilience, in the form of community actions to tailor plant populations to conditions of increased pest and disease pressure brought on by economic globalization; 3.) demonstrate a method of engaging the muted biological knowledge of women and other marginalized groups; and 4.) demonstrate the power of folk value to motivate widespread biological conservation and to characterize ecological knowledge. These research products will inform on-going chestnut conservation activities, and in doing so, highlight the necessity and feasibility of conducting conservation programs which reinforce the livelihoods and cultural survival of local managing communities. |
