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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. What assumption does Quammen make at the end of his introductory chapter?
(a) That people are outraged about the disappearance of species.
(b) That people are willing to change their habits in order to save ecosystems.
(c) That people don't know anything about his field.
(d) That people are hungry for economic growth, even at the expense of ecosystems.

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

3. What were theories of species evolution based on in Wallace's time?
(a) Superstition.
(b) Guesses.
(c) Science.
(d) Religion.

4. Where is Krakatau?
(a) Tunisia.
(b) Malay Archipelago.
(c) Japan.
(d) Italy.

5. What is a sample?
(a) The set of interrelationships that govern a particular climate and ecosystem.
(b) The list of species in an area.
(c) A defined area of a large system.
(d) The data that comes from studying an area, large or small.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How did sailors describe the dodo?

3. How did humans hurt the dodo population directly?

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

5. What was the first species to arrive in Krakatau after the eruption?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the difference between an isolate and a sample, according to Quammen?

2. What factors have effectively broken the Persian rug of nature into pieces, according to Quammen?

3. What is archipelago speciation?

4. What other Mauritius species does Quammen describe?

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

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

7. What does Quammen say about the overall pattern of the Persian rug?

8. What is trophic cascade?

9. When did the field of island biogeography begin?

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

(see the answer keys)

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