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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Preston's Bell.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Quammen find fault with other scientists studying extinctions?
(a) By saying that their nostalgia clouds their findings.
(b) By saying that their fundamental premises were ungrounded.
(c) By saying that they have only been talking to each other.
(d) By saying that their vocabulary is insufficient to the problems.

2. What did Frank Preston say made up the majority of species in any ecosystem?
(a) A few very rare species.
(b) A large number of small animals that served as food for a number of larger animals.
(c) A few very common species.
(d) A large number of fairly common species.

3. How would you describe Quammen's style?
(a) Patient and thorough.
(b) Linear.
(c) Disjointed.
(d) Pedantic.

4. What did Philip Darlington propose?
(a) A set of exceptions to this rule.
(b) A correction that makes this rule broadly applicable.
(c) A mathematical ratio between island area and number of species.
(d) A set of formula that measure biodiversity.

5. How did humans hurt the dodo population directly?
(a) By killing the trees that supplied them with food.
(b) By gathering their eggs and hunting them.
(c) By building on their nesting grounds.
(d) By killing them for sport.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Quammen say islands are sometimes formed?

2. When did the dodo go extinct?

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

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

5. What is the literary term that describes Quammen's addressing the reader directly?

(see the answer key)

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