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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the special creation theory?
(a) The theory that species developed only the most aesthetic traits.
(b) The theory that the universe was created especially for man's comfort.
(c) The idea that God made each species for its environment.
(d) The theory that man was specifically created out of the best traits of the other animals.

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Who is Philip Darlington?
(a) A mathematician.
(b) A sailor.
(c) A writer.
(d) A biologist.

6. What important book did Robert McArthur and Edward Wilson publish in 1967?
(a) 'The Origin of Species'.
(b) 'The Theory of Island Biogeography'.
(c) 'The Selfish Gene'.
(d) 'The Mismeasure of Man'.

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

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

9. What does Quammen say about the overall pattern on this hypothetical rug?
(a) It can still be reassembled.
(b) It only exists in nostalgia.
(c) It is ruined.
(d) It is theoretical, now.

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

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

12. What does Quammen say about each of the pieces?
(a) They are each complete in themselves.
(b) They are complex and well made.
(c) They are nothing without the whole.
(d) They are unintelligible without the whole design.

13. How long after the eruption did it take for 271 species to be counted at Krakatau?
(a) 10 years.
(b) 6 months.
(c) 50 years.
(d) 25 years.

14. What is Lovejoy's term for the ecological crisis?
(a) Faunal collapse.
(b) Ecosystem decay.
(c) Catastrophic deterioration.
(d) Relaxation to equilibrium.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Quammen describe the komodo dragon's territory?

2. Who was Truganini?

3. What does Quammen say an island is?

4. How does Quammen find fault with other scientists studying extinctions?

5. What is the genre of The Song of the Dodo?

(see the answer keys)

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