Nature Atlas
Claims this atlas currently marks as unsettled or as tested and found false. A debated fact is one scholars hold competing positions on; a debunked one has been checked against the record and found not to hold. Both are kept in view rather than quietly smoothed over, with the reasoning that put each one where it stands.
28 statements.
African Elephant, Conservation StatusEndangered
African Elephant, Species
Standing
Concerns Conservation Status
Currently States Endangered
In March 2021 the IUCN Red List, for the first time, assessed African elephants as two separate species rather than one: the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Endangered, and the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) as Critically Endangered, following new genetic evidence. Before that reassessment the combined single-species value was Vulnerable. This atlas models a single African Elephant entity, so the single value Endangered here (kept as the larger-population savanna species' status, this atlas's prior value) is a simplification of a genuinely split picture rather than a settled fact; marked debated rather than attested for that reason, and a taxonomy question is raised asking whether the entity should be split to match. See the accompanying taxonomy question.
Source African Elephant Species Now Endangered and Critically Endangered (IUCN)
African Elephant, Population Estimate415000.000000
African Elephant, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 415000.000000
The IUCN's most recent continent-wide assessment splits the African elephant into two species, savanna and forest, whose combined wild population is estimated near 415,000, but forest elephant numbers in particular are drawn from surveys of dense, hard-to-access habitat and carry wide uncertainty; some regional counts are years out of date.
Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
American Bison, Population Estimate20504.000000
American Bison, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 20504.000000
Figure is for bison in herds managed specifically for conservation rather than commercial production, the count the IUCN assessment treats as most meaningful for the subspecies' ecological recovery; several hundred thousand additional bison exist in commercial herds not counted toward this figure, and which total better represents the species' true recovery is a genuine point of disagreement among conservationists.
Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Arctic Tern, Population Estimate1000000.000000
Arctic Tern, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 1000000.000000
Published global estimates range roughly from one to two million mature individuals; the wide range reflects how difficult it is to census a species that breeds in scattered, often remote colonies across the entire circumpolar Arctic, so the lower, more conservative figure is recorded here rather than a false precise midpoint.
Source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Beaver, Population Estimate12500000.000000
Beaver, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 12500000.000000
Defenders of Wildlife gives a present day range of 10 to 15 million across North America; this atlas records the midpoint. Estimates vary across sources and there is no single census figure, only the shared account that the population collapsed under the fur trade and has since rebounded.
Source Beaver (Defenders of Wildlife)
Blue Whale, Population Estimate10000.000000
Blue Whale, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 10000.000000
Global blue whale population estimates range roughly from 10,000 to 25,000 individuals depending on which of several genetically and geographically distinct subpopulations are counted and how recently each ocean basin was surveyed; the lower figure recorded here is the more conservative published estimate, not a settled consensus number.
Bolson Tortoise, Population Estimate10000.000000
Bolson Tortoise, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 10000.000000
The most recent published estimate is from 1991, based on data collected in 1983; no more recent census was found.
Source Bolson Tortoise (Wikipedia)
Coast Redwood, Conservation StatusEndangered
Congo Basin Rainforest, Area (sq km)2000000.000000
Congo Basin Rainforest, Ecosystems
Standing
Concerns Area (sq km)
Currently States 2000000.000000
Estimates for Congo Basin rainforest extent range from roughly 1.78 to 2 million square kilometers depending on methodology and ongoing deforestation; this figure reflects a commonly cited approximate extent.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Convergent Evolution, First DescribedThe concept predates the phrase: British anatomist Richard Owen distinguished analogous, similar-function but unrelated-origin, structures from homologous, shared-ancestry, ones in the 1840s, before Darwin published his theory of evolution. The specific term convergent evolution came into standard scientific use later, with sources disagreeing on exactly when.
Convergent Evolution, Natural Phenomena
Standing
Concerns First Described
Currently States The concept predates the phrase: British anatomist Richard Owen distinguished analogous, similar-function but unrelated-origin, structures from homologous, shared-ancestry, ones in the 1840s, before Darwin published his theory of evolution. The specific term convergent evolution came into standard scientific use later, with sources disagreeing on exactly when.
Source Convergent Evolution (New World Encyclopedia)
Coral Reef Systems, Area (sq km)284300.000000
Dalmatian Pelican, Population Estimate15000.000000
Dalmatian Pelican, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 15000.000000
Global estimate of 10,000 to 20,000 individuals, roughly 3,000 to 5,000 breeding pairs; the Danube Delta alone holds about 450 of those pairs.
Source Dalmatian Pelican (Wikipedia)
Desertification, First DescribedThe term was used by French ecologist L. Lavauden as early as 1927, but is most often credited to French botanist Andre Aubreville, who used it in 1949 to describe the transformation of productive agricultural land in northern Africa into desert-like, uncultivable fallow land.
Desertification, Natural Phenomena
Standing
Concerns First Described
Currently States The term was used by French ecologist L. Lavauden as early as 1927, but is most often credited to French botanist Andre Aubreville, who used it in 1949 to describe the transformation of productive agricultural land in northern Africa into desert-like, uncultivable fallow land.
Encyclopedia.com's own entry carries both attributions in different sections: one credits Aubreville alone, a second names Lavauden 1927 and Aubreville 1949 together, with Aubreville's usage the one that became prominent in later scientific literature.
Source Desertification (Encyclopedia.com)
Estuary, Typical Low Temperature (C)13.000000
Estuary, Biomes
Standing
Concerns Typical Low Temperature (C)
Currently States 13.000000
13C is the low end of a single named example cited by the source, the Alan Estuary in England, not a global figure. Estuaries occur in every climate zone from tropical to Arctic wherever a river meets tidal water, and no single settled global range was found on an accessible source.
Source Estuary Biome (Earth Eclipse)
Estuary, Typical High Temperature (C)17.000000
Estuary, Biomes
Standing
Concerns Typical High Temperature (C)
Currently States 17.000000
17C is the high end of the same single named example, the Alan Estuary in England, not a global figure; see this entity's temperature-low-c StatusNote for the same caveat.
Source Estuary Biome (Earth Eclipse)
Fiordland Crested Penguin, Population Estimate5000.000000
Freshwater, Annual Precipitation (mm)1143.000000
Freshwater, Biomes
Standing
Concerns Annual Precipitation (mm)
Currently States 1143.000000
1143mm is the midpoint of the cited source's stated 10 to 80 inch (254mm to 2032mm) annual range. Freshwater habitats exist on every continent and in every climate, so no single figure is fully meaningful, matching this entity's own description that the biome carries no single characteristic rainfall total.
Source Freshwater Biome (Earth Eclipse)
Gray Wolf, Population Estimate300000.000000
Gray Wolf, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 300000.000000
Estimates of the global gray wolf population range roughly from 200,000 to 250,000 in some tallies to over 300,000 in others, depending on which regional census data is current and how subspecies boundaries are drawn; there is no single coordinated worldwide survey.
Indri, Population Estimate1000.000000
Indri, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 1000.000000
Published estimates span an order of magnitude, from 1,000 to 10,000 individuals; the lower, more conservative bound is recorded here.
Source Indri (Wikipedia)
Lion-tailed Macaque, Population Estimate3250.000000