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.
251 statements.
Abyssal Zone, Annual Precipitation (mm)0.000000
Abyssal Zone, Biomes
Standing
Concerns Annual Precipitation (mm)
Currently States 0.000000
This biome sits on the seafloor and water column roughly 4,000 to 6,000 meters down, entirely below any atmospheric contact. The surface-blended figure already used on the Marine, Open Ocean, Neritic Zone and Coral Reef biome entities is not a meaningful climate parameter for a benthic zone with no exposure to the sea surface or sky, so 0mm is recorded as the physically honest figure rather than reusing that surface convention for a genuinely different physical setting.
Accipitriformes, Member Species/Taxa Count260
Accipitriformes, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 260
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Actinobacteria, Member Species/Taxa Count10000
Actinobacteria, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 10000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Actinopterygii, Member Species/Taxa Count34000
Actinopterygii, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 34000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
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
American Crow, Population Estimate31000000.000000
American Crow, Species
Standing
Concerns Population Estimate
Currently States 31000000.000000
In 2012, BirdLife International estimated the American crow population at around 31 million, but Wikipedia also reports the population has dropped by up to 45 percent since 1999, chiefly from West Nile virus mortality, so the 2012 figure is dated and the current true total is lower and unsettled.
Source American Crow (Wikipedia)
Amphibia, Member Species/Taxa Count8500
Amphibia, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 8500
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Animalia, Member Species/Taxa Count1500000
Animalia, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 1500000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Annelida, Member Species/Taxa Count22000
Annelida, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 22000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Anseriformes, Member Species/Taxa Count180
Anseriformes, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 180
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Anthozoa, Member Species/Taxa Count7500
Anthozoa, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 7500
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Anura, Member Species/Taxa Count7400
Anura, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 7400
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Apicomplexa, Member Species/Taxa Count6000
Apicomplexa, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 6000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Apodiformes, Member Species/Taxa Count460
Apodiformes, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 460
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Arachnida, Member Species/Taxa Count110000
Arachnida, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 110000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
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
Arthropoda, Member Species/Taxa Count1250000
Arthropoda, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 1250000
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life
Artiodactyla, Member Species/Taxa Count240
Artiodactyla, Taxa
Standing
Concerns Member Species/Taxa Count
Currently States 240
Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.
Source Catalogue of Life