Journal article
Folk Biological Value and Chestnut Conservation in Turkey
Economic botany, Vol.73(4), pp.461-476
12/01/2019
Abstract
An ethnobotany dedicated to biocultural survival must advance research methods that perceive and support the biological basis of cultural survival in tandem with the cultural basis of biodiversity maintenance. To help address this challenge, we introduce the concept of “folk biological value”—the value of the more-than-human living world to cultural cohesion and survival—as well as a method to investigate and apply it to an ongoing biological conservation endeavor. In Turkey, the sweet chestnut tree population (
Castanea sativa
Mill.) is threatened by multiple exotic pathogens. In order to engage and study the collective value motivating continued chestnut presence and association, we sampled communities along the legible value structure of the value chain. We conducted 162 group interviews with 12 chestnut value chain groups across Turkey. Our results show how botanical knowledge of the tree transforms significantly in correspondence to the flow of the value chain. Further, we demonstrate that while the Black Sea region and western Turkey represent distinct human geographic zones of chestnut engagement, the most substantial countervailing forces defining nationwide conservation priorities are commercial and local maintenance value. This research furthers understanding of and capacity to engage community value during urgent local transitions from ecological protection to prioritization.
Metrics
1 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Folk Biological Value and Chestnut Conservation in Turkey
- Creators
- Jeffrey R. Wall - Cornell UniversityTaner Okan - Istanbul UniversityCoşkun Köse - Istanbul UniversityNesibe Köse - Istanbul University-CerrahpaşaElif Başak Aksoy - Hacettepe University
- Publication Details
- Economic botany, Vol.73(4), pp.461-476
- Academic Unit
- Department of Horticulture
- Publisher
- Springer US
- Number of pages
- 16
- Grant note
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100009083) Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma Kurumu (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004410)
- Identifiers
- 99901298135201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article