View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Song of the Indri.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Wilson show Quammen when the two men visited?
(a) A slide show of how Wilson and MacArthur developed their theory.
(b) Specimens that had helped Wilson and MacArthur develop their theory.
(c) Drafts of the papers that defined biogeography.
(d) Letters people had written to Wilson and MacArthur about their theories.

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

3. 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 a national park 'microcosm' would not be representative of wild species.
(c) That the earth itself is a single ecosystem, and it cannot be broken down into constituent parts without losing sight of the whole.
(d) That a national park that wanted to be a microcosm of wild species would need a large buffer zone to encourage diversity.

4. What did Wilson and MacArthur postulate according to Quammen?
(a) That once an island developed a full range of species, extinction was rare.
(b) That extinctions followed a predictable timeline following colonization.
(c) That extinction was a regular event on islands.
(d) That extinction only began when began to travel to new islands.

5. What did Wilson and MacArthur say about the immigration of new species in an island ecosystem?
(a) That it typically only followed natural disasters like volcanoes erupting.
(b) That it depended on external events and compatibility of food sources.
(c) That it depended on the defenses of the species already there. That it depended on external events and compatibility of food sources.
(d) That it was a regular occurrence.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. When did Wilson and MacArthur publish 'An Equilibrium Theory of Insular Zoogeography'?

3. What does Quammen use as an example of an island?

4. How many species did Wilson and MacArthur predict would establish an equilibrium in Krakatau?

5. Who did Robert Bates work with?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 402 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample