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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What assertion did Frank Preston make based on his data?
(a) That a national park could contain a microcosm of the wild species.
(b) That the earth itself is a single ecosystem, and it cannot be broken down into constituent parts without losing sight of the whole.
(c) That a national park that wanted to be a microcosm of wild species would need a large buffer zone to encourage diversity.
(d) That a national park 'microcosm' would not be representative of wild species.

2. What did the dodo eat?
(a) Other birds.
(b) Fruit.
(c) Small mammals and snakes.
(d) Insects.

3. What advice did Darwin receive from his friends, with regard to Wallace's work?
(a) Credit Wallace and share the glory with him.
(b) Publish an outline quickly.
(c) To buy Wallace's notes from him, and pledge him to silence.
(d) To work with Wallace and publish a joint theory.

4. How does Quammen describe the komodo dragon's territory?
(a) As any environment that satisfies its survival requirements.
(b) As the whole history of its development in the ecosystem.
(c) As an island within an island.
(d) As inseparable from the islands where it developed.

5. What ecosystem does Wallace distinguish from ecosystems that developed in isolation?
(a) Ecosystems that were simplified over time.
(b) Ecosystems where people had introduced new species.
(c) Ecosystems where great complexity developed out of local conditions.
(d) Ecosystems that had been part of a larger land mass, but broke away.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Wallace put Darwin in a tough spot, according to Quammen?

2. What is a thylacine?

3. How did humans hurt the dodo population indirectly?

4. What is the term that encompasses David Quammen's overall idea?

5. Who did Robert Bates work with?

(see the answer key)

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