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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. What is a thylacine?
(a) A kestrel.
(b) A crab.
(c) A Tasmanian tiger.
(d) A kangaroo.

4. Who was Truganini?
(a) A naturalists who studied the Tasmanian tiger.
(b) The last surviving Tasmanian woman.
(c) A researcher in Tasmania.
(d) A sailor who reported on Tasmanian tigers.

5. What is the term that encompasses David Quammen's overall idea?
(a) Functional adaptation.
(b) Island biogeography.
(c) Ecosystem collapse.
(d) Survival of the fittest.

6. What rule governs the relationship between the size of an island and the number of species it can support?
(a) The large the island, the greater the number of species.
(b) The greater the fertility of the soil, the greater the number of species.
(c) The taller the highest point on the island, the greater the number of species.
(d) The longer the coastline the greater the number of species.

7. Where did Wallace travel after the Amazon?
(a) Palestine.
(b) Australia.
(c) Galapagos islands.
(d) The Malay Archipelago.

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 stole his work from Wallace.
(c) Whether he developed the theory of evolution on his own.
(d) Whether he acted honorably toward Wallace.

9. How did sailors describe the dodo?
(a) Swift.
(b) Canny.
(c) Cagey.
(d) Stupid.

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

11. What did Frank Preston study?
(a) Species divergence.
(b) Adaptive radiation.
(c) Predator-prey relations.
(d) Species distribution.

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

13. How does Quammen say islands are sometimes formed?
(a) Seismic upthrust.
(b) Volcanic activity.
(c) Earthquakes.
(d) Rise in sea level.

14. What traits did sailors notice in animals on remote islands?
(a) They were more varied than species on land.
(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 unafraid of humans, and thus easy prey.

15. When does Quammen say his field became a field of inquiry?
(a) With MacArthur and Wilson.
(b) With Quammen.
(c) With Alfred Wallace.
(d) With Darwin.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kinds of animals did Philip Darlington look at?

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

3. What does Quammen say about each of the pieces?

4. What is Quammen really describing as he imagines the hacked up rug?

5. How many species would an island of 4,000 square miles have, according to Quammen?

(see the answer keys)

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