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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Coming Thing.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why was the thylacine killed off?
(a) Because it lost its habitat to colonists.
(b) Because it preyed on colonists' sheep and was hunted.
(c) Because its eggs were collected by sailors.
(d) Because invasive species competed more successfully for food.

2. When does a species' dispersal ability become important, according to Quammen?
(a) When the species is isolated by mountain ranges or lakes.
(b) When a species is forced to find new food sources.
(c) When an island loses all its life after a catastrophic event.
(d) When a species is threatened by new predators.

3. What kinds of animals did Philip Darlington look at?
(a) Reptiles.
(b) Birds.
(c) Insects.
(d) Mammals.

4. How did Wilson and MacArthur test their theory about recolonization?
(a) By studying data from the ancient city of Atlantis.
(b) By fumigating an island in the Florida Keys.
(c) By returning year after year to a small island off Tasmania.
(d) By studying new volcanic islands in the South Seas.

5. What rule governs the relationship between the size of an island and the number of species it can support?
(a) The greater the fertility of the soil, the greater the number of species.
(b) The taller the highest point on the island, the greater the number of species.
(c) The large the island, the greater the number of species.
(d) The longer the coastline the greater the number of species.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Wallace travel after the Amazon?

2. What was the result of the experiment Wilson and MacArthur undertook to prove their Krakatau hypothesis?

3. Why, according to Quammen, is the theory of equilibrium important to science?

4. What does Quammen say Wallace developed in South America?

5. When did the dodo go extinct?

(see the answer key)

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