Biocultural diversity of common walnut ( <i>Juglans regia</i> L.) and sweet chestnut ( <i>Castanea sativa</i> Mill.) across Eurasia
Paola Pollegioni|Stefano Del Lungo|Ruth Müller|Keith Woeste|Francesca Chiocchini|Jo Clark|G. E. Hemery|S. Mapelli|F. Villani|Maria Emilia Malvolti|Claudia Mattioni
Abstract A biocultural diversity approach integrates plant biology and germplasm dispersal processes with human cultural diversity. An increasing number of studies have identified factors ethnolinguistic barriers as the main drivers genetic in crop plants. Little is known about how anthropogenic affected evolution tree crops over entire time scale their interaction humans. In Asia Mediterranean, common walnut ( Juglans regia L.) sweet chestnut Castanea sativa Mill.) been economically culturally important for millennia; there, ancient times, they were invested symbolic religious significance. this study, we detected a partial geographic congruence between ethno‐linguistic repartition communities, distribution major cognitive sets word‐related terms, inferred clusters populations across Eurasia. Our data indicated that isolation by distance processes, landscape heterogeneity boundaries might promoted simultaneously language diversification walnut/chestnut differentiation same macro‐regions. Hotspots associated areas linguistic enrichment Himalayas, Trans‐Caucasus, Pyrenees Mountains, where walnuts chestnuts had sustained ties to culture since Early Bronze Age. multidisciplinary supported indirect direct role humans shaping Eurasia from EBA (e.g., Persian Empire Greek–Roman colonization) until first evidence active selection clonal propagation grafting both species. findings highlighted benefit an efficient integration relevant classical genome (G) × environmental (E) model urgency systematic application concept reconstruction evolutionary history
Ecology and Evolution|PubMed Central|PubMed