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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Rarity Unto Death.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What question does Quammen say was debated for years after Darwin's theories were published?
(a) Whether he acted honorably toward Wallace.
(b) Whether he stole his work from Wallace.
(c) Whether he owed Wallace for the material he borrowed.
(d) Whether he developed the theory of evolution on his own.

2. What is a trophic cascade?
(a) The interrelation between species.
(b) The consequences of habitat depletion.
(c) The result of change in one species' hunting habits.
(d) The cycle of expansion and contraction in animal populations.

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

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

5. What literary device describes the questions David Quammen asks about the rug?
(a) Rhetorical question.
(b) Aopstrophe.
(c) Leading question.
(d) Sarcasm.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Quammen says Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace had in common?

2. What is the tone of Quammen's writing in the opening chapter?

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

4. How would you describe Quammen's narrative of the dodo's decline and extinction?

5. Which scientist compared animals on islands with their counterparts on larger landmasses?

(see the answer key)

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