View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Quammen say makes his field important?
(a) Because it is holistic and global in scope.
(b) Because it has predicted recent phenomena.
(c) Because it accounts for events other fields cannot account for.
(d) Because island ecosystems are a good metaphor for ecosystems as a whole.

2. What were Frank Preston's findings in plotting the distribution of species in island habitats?
(a) An indirect proportion to represent commonness of species.
(b) A direct proportion to represent commonness of species.
(c) A random relationship between size of island and commonness of species.
(d) A bell curve to represent commonness of species.

3. How would you describe Quammen's narrative of the dodo's decline and extinction?
(a) Speculation.
(b) Detailed hypothesis.
(c) Detailed narrative.
(d) Ungrounded fiction.

4. What were the first plants to arrive after the eruption of Krakatau?
(a) Mushrooms.
(b) Lichens.
(c) Grasses.
(d) Mosses and ferns.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Quammen say Wallace developed in South America?

2. How many species of the animal Philip Darlington studied did an island of four square miles possess?

3. What did the dodo eat?

4. What literary device describes the questions David Quammen asks about the rug?

5. Who does Quammen say typically collected insects?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Quammen's tone in the first chapter.

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

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

4. What practical assertion does Quammen say Frank Preston made based on his findings?

5. What examples does Quammen cite of species changing size on islands?

6. Who is Frank Preston, and what was his contribution to the discussion of island size and species count?

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

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

9. When did the field of island biogeography begin?

10. What was MacArthur and Wilson's contribution to island biogeography?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 779 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample