Open Questions

Open Sphagnum

Why It Is Open Peatland mapping is incomplete in remote boreal and arctic regions, and existing global wetland inventories do not isolate the area or biomass specifically dominated by Sphagnum from other peat-forming vegetation.

What Would Settle It Satellite-based global peatland mapping cross-referenced with species-level vegetation surveys distinguishing Sphagnum-dominated bogs from other peatland types.

Expertise Needed Peatland ecology and remote sensing

Question posed in Sphagnum (Wikipedia), opening paragraph, species count sentence.

Open Common Raven

Why It Is Open The Wikipedia article consulted for this species gives no single global population figure; secondary web results cite conflicting uncited totals (roughly 16 million versus 29 million) with no raw source page fetched to confirm either.

What Would Settle It A dated global population estimate from a named, fetchable source (BirdLife International DataZone, Partners in Flight, or the IUCN Red List assessment page) with a verbatim figure this atlas can cite directly.

Expertise Needed Ornithology

Question posed in Common Raven (Wikipedia), Population section (absent).

Open Green Sea Turtle

Why It Is Open The Wikipedia article consulted states the IUCN reclassified the species from endangered to least concern in 2025 and that the population has risen about 28 percent since the 1970s, but gives no absolute global count of individuals or nesting females; regional nesting-female counts exist but no consolidated global total was found in the source consulted.

What Would Settle It A consolidated global population figure (total individuals or total nesting females) from the 2025 IUCN Red List assessment (Seminoff et al., article e.T4615A285108125) or an equivalent named, fetchable source.

Expertise Needed Marine biology

Question posed in Green Sea Turtle (Wikipedia), Population section (absent).

Open White Stork

Why It Is Open The Wikipedia article consulted gives only scattered national and regional breeding-pair counts (for example Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria); a secondary web search found a BirdLife-attributed figure of roughly 700,000 individuals worldwide, but the BirdLife DataZone factsheet page itself is JavaScript-rendered and no raw verbatim figure could be fetched from it this pass.

What Would Settle It A verbatim global population figure fetched directly from the BirdLife DataZone factsheet, the European Red List of Birds PDF, or an equivalent named source this atlas can cite with a real locator and quote.

Expertise Needed Ornithology

Question posed in White Stork (Wikipedia), Population section (absent).

Open Harpy Eagle

Why It Is Open The cited English language Wikipedia article on the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) gives no total population number or range anywhere in its text; a full-article search this pass found only regional decline and extirpation patterns, no comprehensive count.

What Would Settle It A dedicated IUCN Red List population assessment, or a peer reviewed range wide survey, stating a number of mature individuals or total adults for the species as a whole.

Expertise Needed conservation biology

Question posed in Harpy Eagle (Wikipedia), Population section, absent from article.

Open Flying Fox

Why It Is Open The genus Pteropus contains at least 60 species across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, East Africa and Indian and Pacific island groups; single roosts of up to 100,000 individuals are recorded for some species, but no survey aggregates a total population across the whole genus.

What Would Settle It A coordinated genus-wide census combining the separate national and island surveys already conducted for individual Pteropus species.

Expertise Needed Chiropterology and conservation biology

Question posed in Pteropus (Wikipedia).

Open Spider Monkey

Why It Is Open All seven Ateles species are assessed as threatened, but published figures cover only individual species and local populations; no total wild population figure spanning the whole genus has been assembled.

What Would Settle It Range-wide population surveys for each of the seven Ateles species, combined into a single genus total.

Expertise Needed Primatology and conservation biology

Question posed in Spider Monkey (Wikipedia).

Open Capuchin Monkey

Why It Is Open Capuchin monkey taxonomy across Cebus and Sapajus remains disputed, and most population data are local abundance studies rather than range-wide counts, so no reliable total population figure exists for the group.

What Would Settle It A settled species-level taxonomy for Cebinae paired with range-wide surveys for each recognized species.

Expertise Needed Primatology and conservation biology

Question posed in Capuchin Monkey (Wikipedia).

Open Termite

Why It Is Open Termite abundance is usually measured as a share of insect biomass rather than a raw individual count, and biomass estimates vary sharply by region, so no reliable global population figure exists across the nearly 3,000 described species.

What Would Settle It Standardized biomass and colony-density surveys across representative habitats worldwide, converted to a defensible global population estimate.

Expertise Needed Entomology and ecology

Question posed in Termite (Wikipedia).

Open Moray Eel

Why It Is Open Moray eels are cryptic reef and crevice dwellers across roughly 200 species, and most population data are local reef-survey counts rather than range-wide totals, so no global population figure exists for the family.

What Would Settle It Systematic reef and habitat surveys across the family full range, aggregated by species.

Expertise Needed Ichthyology and marine ecology

Question posed in Moray Eel (Wikipedia).

Open Poison Dart Frog

Why It Is Open Population studies exist for individual Dendrobatidae species at specific field sites, but chytrid fungus disease and habitat loss are changing numbers unevenly across roughly 200 species, so no reliable total population figure has been assembled for the family.

What Would Settle It Coordinated field surveys across the family range tracking chytrid impact and habitat loss by species.

Expertise Needed Herpetology and conservation biology

Question posed in Poison Dart Frog (Wikipedia).

Open Aardwolf

Why It Is Open The cited Wikipedia source gives only a maximum density figure (no more than one individual per square kilometer where food is abundant), not a total population count or range-wide estimate.

What Would Settle It A range-wide population survey or IUCN Red List assessment stating a total number or a defensible estimate range for wild aardwolf numbers.

Expertise Needed Wildlife population ecology

Question posed in Aardwolf (Wikipedia), Conservation section.

Open Agile Gibbon

Why It Is Open The cited Wikipedia source states the species is endangered due to habitat loss and the pet trade but gives no population count or estimate range anywhere in the article.

What Would Settle It An IUCN Red List assessment or field census stating a total or estimated range-wide population figure for the agile gibbon.

Expertise Needed Primatology / wildlife population ecology

Question posed in Agile Gibbon (Wikipedia), Lead section.

Open Muskrat

Why It Is Open Wikipedia states the muskrat population has declined by at least one-half in 34 US states but gives no total global count or range anywhere in the article, only this regional decline figure.

What Would Settle It A coordinated global or continent-wide muskrat census or standing estimate from a wildlife authority such as IUCN or a national fish and wildlife agency.

Expertise Needed wildlife population ecology

Question posed in Muskrat (Wikipedia), Range and conservation status section.

Open Sun Bear

Why It Is Open Wikipedia states the global sun bear population has declined by an estimated 35 percent since the 1990s but gives no absolute total count or range anywhere in the article, only this percentage decline and local density figures.

What Would Settle It A coordinated range-wide sun bear population estimate from the IUCN Bear Specialist Group or a national wildlife authority across its Southeast Asian range.

Expertise Needed wildlife population ecology

Question posed in Sun Bear (Wikipedia), Conservation status section, population decline estimate.

Open Sonoran Desert

Why It Is Open The Sonoran Desert's own Wikipedia entry asserts, with an acknowledged caveat, that it may be the joint hottest desert on Earth, while noting possible contrary evidence exists.

What Would Settle It A standardized comparative temperature survey across the world's hot deserts using one consistent measurement method and time period.

Expertise Needed Climatology

Question posed in Sonoran Desert (Wikipedia).

Open African Great Lakes

Why It Is Open Reference sources state the surface area of individual lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi and others) but disagree on how many lakes belong to the African Great Lakes group itself, and no live source found states a single combined-area total for the group as such. This atlas's own cited Wikipedia article states the lakes' combined water volume ("Collectively, they contain 31,000 km3 (7,400 mi3) of water.") but gives no combined surface-area figure anywhere in the article.

What Would Settle It A single authoritative geographic or limnological source that both fixes which lakes belong to the African Great Lakes group and states a combined surface-area figure for exactly that membership.

Expertise Needed Physical geography / limnology

Question posed in African Great Lakes (Wikipedia), Wikipedia article body, states combined water volume, no combined-area figure anywhere in article.

Open Eurasian Steppe

Why It Is Open This atlas's own cited Wikipedia article describes the Eurasian Steppe by the countries it crosses and its west-east extent ("It stretches westward some 8000 kilometres (5000 miles) from Manchuria across Mongolia, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Hungary") but states no total-area figure anywhere. Public reference sources checked separately describe the steppe's boundary differently, especially where it grades into desert to the south and forest to the north, and the area figures given across those sources diverge by several million square kilometers depending on the boundary used; none of those figures is stored here because none was confirmed against its own raw source text at a specific, citable locator.

What Would Settle It A single authoritative biogeographic source that fixes the steppe's boundary (for example a named ecoregion or biome classification) and states the resulting total area for exactly that boundary.

Expertise Needed Physical geography / biogeography

Question posed in Eurasian Steppe (Wikipedia), Wikipedia article body, states an 8,000 km west-east extent and the countries crossed, no area figure given.

Open Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest

Why It Is Open This atlas's own cited Wikipedia article and the WWF classification both describe the Pacific temperate rainforest as the world's largest temperate rainforest, but the region is mapped as several separate ecoregions (Northern Pacific coastal forests, British Columbia mainland coastal forests, Central Pacific coastal forests, Klamath-Siskiyou forests and others), each carrying its own area figure in reference sources. No live source found states one combined total for the whole region, and summing the separate ecoregion figures ourselves would be this atlas's own calculation rather than an attested figure taken from a source.

What Would Settle It A single authoritative source (WWF or a peer-reviewed biogeography reference) that states one combined total area for the Pacific temperate rainforest as a single region, or that explicitly names which ecoregions such a total should sum.

Expertise Needed Physical geography / biogeography

Question posed in Pacific Temperate Rainforests (Wikipedia), Wikipedia article body describes region as world's largest temperate rainforest, gives no combined area total.

Open Heath

Why It Is Open Heath is a globally distributed shrubland habitat type occurring on every continent except Antarctica (Australia, southern Africa, Texas, New Caledonia, Chile, Mediterranean shores and elsewhere), not one bounded place, and this atlas's own cited Wikipedia article gives no single combined global area figure for it anywhere in the text, only qualitative statements that it is widespread and that many of its European stands are vanishing.

What Would Settle It A single authoritative global inventory of heath habitat extent across every continent where it occurs, using one consistent definition of what counts as heath as opposed to moorland or other shrubland.

Expertise Needed Physical geography / vegetation ecology

Question posed in Heath (Wikipedia), Wikipedia article body, describes heath as widespread across multiple continents, states no combined global area figure anywhere in the article.