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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What advice did Darwin receive from his friends, with regard to Wallace's work?
(a) To buy Wallace's notes from him, and pledge him to silence.
(b) Publish an outline quickly.
(c) Credit Wallace and share the glory with him.
(d) To work with Wallace and publish a joint theory.

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

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

5. How many species of the animal Philip Darlington studied did an island of four square miles possess?
(a) 217.
(b) 5.
(c) 2.
(d) 88.

Short Answer Questions

1. What literary term describes Quammen's use of the image of the Persian rug?

2. What does Quammen say about the overall pattern on this hypothetical rug?

3. What were theories of species evolution based on in Wallace's time?

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

5. What does a species have if it has high dispersal ability?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is archipelago speciation?

2. What findings of Michael Soule's does Quammen cite at the end of Chapter 4, "Rarity Unto Death"?

3. What is the first explanation Quammen offers for the relationship between island size and species count?

4. When did the field of island biogeography begin?

5. Describe how Quammen's narrative progresses from one idea to the next.

6. What is dispersal ability and why is it important?

7. How did David Wallace make his start as a biologist, in Quammen's narrative?

8. What are the different terms Quammen describes for how people have accounted for the degradation of ecosystems?

9. Describe the process by which scientists generate policies for managing ecosystems.

10. What concept did Wallace develop in the Malay Archipelago?

(see the answer keys)

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