View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Michael Soule study?
(a) Dodos.
(b) Birds in Guam.
(c) Tasmanian tigers.
(d) Lizards in the Gulf of California.

2. What is the difference between an isolate and a sample?
(a) A sample is only representative of itself.
(b) Trends in an isolate can be applied to larger areas.
(c) Samples are only statistically related to larger environments.
(d) An isolate does not have a relation with a larger area.

3. What doe Quammen say about this rule?
(a) It required enormous statistical calculations to arrive at it.
(b) It is highly controversial.
(c) It is intuitive, but also more complicated.
(d) It is still not established as accepted science.

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

5. How did humans hurt the dodo population indirectly?
(a) By introducing competitors for food.
(b) By breaking up dodo populations for colonization to other islands.
(c) By competing for the dodo's food supply themselves.
(d) By collecting too many dodos for scientific study.

6. What does Quammen use as an example of an island?
(a) Indonesia.
(b) The komodo dragon's territory.
(c) Mountaintop ecosystems.
(d) Yellowstone national park.

7. What traits did sailors notice in animals on remote islands?
(a) They were unafraid of humans, and thus easy prey.
(b) They were smaller and harder to observe than their counterparts on land.
(c) They adapted more quickly to environmental changes than animals on larger land masses.
(d) They were more varied than species on land.

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

9. What surprising dispersal ability does Quammen say elephants have?
(a) Ability to be carried on wind currents.
(b) Ability to go without water for weeks.
(c) Ability to swim long distances.
(d) Ability to be carried in other animals' fur.

10. What does Quammen say Wallace developed in South America?
(a) A deep devotion to the science of zoology.
(b) A sharp eye for different traits in insects.
(c) A terrifying vision of the destruction of ecosystems.
(d) A clear vision of the profits to be made in providing scientists with specimens.

11. What was Tasmania's environmental history, according to Quammen?
(a) It was isolated by a growing mountain range in India.
(b) It was separated from Australia by water.
(c) It was formed by a volcano in the sea.
(d) It experienced a catastrophic eruption that killed off everything on the island, before life returned slowly.

12. What population does Quammen compare with the thylacine population?
(a) The passenger pigeon.
(b) The Komodo dragon.
(c) The indigenous people of Tasmania.
(d) The dodo.

13. How many pieces does Quammen ask the reader to imagine the rug being cut into?
(a) 36.
(b) 144.
(c) 12.
(d) 6.

14. Where did the dodo nest?
(a) On the ground.
(b) In man-made structures.
(c) In trees.
(d) In burrows.

15. Who did Robert Bates work with?
(a) Darwin.
(b) Wallace.
(c) Quammen.
(d) Wilson.

Short Answer Questions

1. What family does Quammen say hippopotamuses and deer belong to?

2. What does Quammen say makes animals smaller on islands?

3. When does a species' dispersal ability become important, according to Quammen?

4. What advice did Darwin receive from his friends, with regard to Wallace's work?

5. How would you describe Quammen's vocabulary?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 630 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample