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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The last chapter of the book is a cautionary analysis of man's irresponsibility with regards to the:
(a) Pursuit of wealth.
(b) Waging of war against fellow humans.
(c) Extinction of animals.
(d) Polluting of the atmosphere.

2. Species appear to exist, on average, how long?
(a) 12 thousand years.
(b) 9 billion years.
(c) 780 thousand years.
(d) 4 million years.

3. Scientists now believe that life began on Earth how long ago?
(a) 6.25 thousand years.
(b) 5.75 million years.
(c) 3.85 billion years.
(d) 7.35 trillion years.

4. When the KT meteor that killed the dinosaurs hit Earth, what percentage of life on the planet perished?
(a) 95.
(b) 40.
(c) 70.
(d) 15.

5. Scientists assumed stromatolites were extinct until they were discovered where in 1961?
(a) Armenia.
(b) Algeria.
(c) Argentina.
(d) Australia.

6. What was the HMS Beagle, and how was it related to Charles Darwin?
(a) A hot-air balloon he used to survey the land.
(b) A microscope given to him by his wife.
(c) A laboratory created for him by the king.
(d) A ship he travelled on, collecting specimens.

7. With so many hominid species existing in the past, why did only one survive?
(a) Nobody knows.
(b) Climate change.
(c) Larger brain.
(d) Greater capacity for compassion.

8. The human body is composed of how many cells?
(a) 500 million.
(b) 800 thousand.
(c) 10,000 trillion.
(d) 2,000 billion.

9. Approximately 50 million years ago, Antarctica was:
(a) Open ocean.
(b) Five times larger than it is today.
(c) Close to tropical.
(d) A barren desert.

10. The author seems to condemn the fact that, over the years, studying wildlife meant what?
(a) Mere recreation for the wealthy.
(b) Nothing to the average person.
(c) Capturing and killing it.
(d) Destroying the environment.

11. What are eukarya?
(a) Organisms with nucleated cells.
(b) Carbon-trapping rocks.
(c) Bacteria that live on clouds.
(d) Salt-tolerant single-celled organisms.

12. Who was the first person to describe a cell?
(a) Matthias Jakob Schleiden.
(b) Robert Hooke.
(c) Van Leeuwenhoek.
(d) Theodor Schwann.

13. At this time, how many plant and animal species are becoming extinct per week?
(a) 1 to 2.
(b) 600 to 1,000.
(c) 50 to 80.
(d) 100 to 200.

14. In Chapter 30, the author notes that, in the past, some larger species became extinct because:
(a) The earth's gravitational strength changed.
(b) They stopped mating.
(c) Of their underdeveloped brains.
(d) Humans hunted them to extinction.

15. The KT meteor caused dinosaurs to become extinct but paved the way for what to become the new dominant species?
(a) Plants.
(b) Birds.
(c) Mammals.
(d) Insects.

Short Answer Questions

1. Compared to at sea level, oxygen at a few thousand feet above sea level is:

2. In a cell, what is the cytoplasm?

3. The Burgess Shale Formation, containing tens of thousands of fossils of soft-bodied creatures preserved by a mudslide, was found where?

4. When entomologist Terry Erwin collected insect samples from 19 rain forest trees, how many different varieties of beetles did he find?

5. Before Charles Darwin wrote his famous book about natural selection, he spent eight years writing about what?

(see the answer keys)

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