| Abstract | [We mined the information of an exhaustive standardized historical survey developed in 628 localities across Spain between 1574 and 1582 (Relaciones Topográficas de Felipe II) with the goal of producing a rigorous national inventory of the socio-economic status and natural resources of Spanish settlements. The survey includes records of plant and animal species, both wild and domestic. We were able to collate 7,309 records for 75 wild plant taxa, 89 wild animal taxa, and 60 crop and domestic animal taxa. These data can be used to reconstruct historical land use and habitat cover, and model historical distributions of many species, including emblematic ones such as wolf and bear, which can establish reference distributions to assess range and niche expansion, contraction and shifts.] |
