How Managing for Chestnut Honey in Turkey Salvages Trees and Lifeways under Increasing Exotic Pest and Disease Pressure

Abstract

We utilize a dataset generated by 17 months of fieldwork, including tree health surveys and ethnobotanical questionnaires, to explore a participant-generated hypothesis that coppiced-tree honey collection is eclipsing nut collection as a strategy for the maintenance of chestnut landscapes in the face of increasingly severe pest and disease pressure. We explore this local hypothesis through quantitative analysis of a combined geographic, physiological, and ethnobotanical dataset. We verify participants’ hypothesis and forecast relative success for their projected silvicultural strategy based on outcomes from other contexts. Our findings contribute to emerging consensus in mobility ethnobotany and core flora studies that the increase in importance of plant medicinal value occurs under conditions of rapid change and that valued species enjoy heightened ecological protection in new environments. Further, we highlight the importance of “thinking with” the tension of indigeneity and adaptations required to survive extreme and ubiquitous environmental change, including migration and ecological alteration.