Abstract
We explore the use of toponyms as an information source of land use changes in heathland landscapes of Galicia, an Atlantic region of northwest Spain. Heathlands are prized for their condition of remarkable landscapes, biodiversity reservoirs and cultural heritage areas. A strong decline of heathland cover has taken place in Atlantic Europe during the last centuries, as land use changes toward more productive systems. Galicia retains a high proportion of heathland cover, but there is a trend of land use transformation to forest plantations and improved pastures. Place names rooted with vernacular names of heathers (Erica, Calluna and Daboecia genera, Ericaceae) were recorded in a geo-referenced database. We applied spatial statistics to account for correlation between heath toponym density and present-day heathland distribution. We did not find such correlation, but differences were found for altitudinal ranks, suggesting a wider habitat loss at lowlands than at mountain areas. We discuss the possibilities of a systematic use of toponymic databases in historical landscape reconstruction.
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