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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is Owen Griffiths?
(a) An insect researcher in Madagascar.
(b) A bird researcher in Australia.
(c) A sailor from the 18th century.
(d) A monkey researcher in Mauritius.

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

3. Why, according to Quammen, is the theory of equilibrium important to science?
(a) Because it applies to mainland populations.
(b) Because it can be used to predict human emigrations.
(c) Because it is a model for human populations.
(d) Because it models species extinction worldwide.

4. What does Quammen say makes his field important?
(a) Because island ecosystems are a good metaphor for ecosystems as a whole.
(b) Because it is holistic and global in scope.
(c) Because it has predicted recent phenomena.
(d) Because it accounts for events other fields cannot account for.

5. How many species did Wilson and MacArthur predict would establish an equilibrium in Krakatau?
(a) 30.
(b) 250.
(c) 500.
(d) 50.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Philip Darlington?

2. Where did the dodo live?

3. What was the special creation theory?

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

5. What assertion did Frank Preston make based on his data?

(see the answer key)

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