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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 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.

2. What does Quammen say an island is?
(a) A sample.
(b) A fundamentally unique environment.
(c) A replica of other ecosystems.
(d) An isolate.

3. How did Wallace put Darwin in a tough spot, according to Quammen?
(a) By telling him about his work.
(b) By publishing his theory first.
(c) By having looked at Darwin's theories before he published his own.
(d) By having used some of Darwin's observations in his own work.

4. How would you describe Quammen's vocabulary?
(a) Familiar.
(b) Technical and precise.
(c) Off-hand.
(d) Sophisticated.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What assertion did Frank Preston make based on his data?

2. When does a species' dispersal ability become important, according to Quammen?

3. What is the tone of Quammen's writing in the opening chapter?

4. What family does Quammen say hippopotamuses and deer belong to?

5. What surprising dispersal ability does Quammen say elephants have?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is trophic cascade?

2. What is the governing metaphor in the opening chapter?

3. What examples does Quammen use of dispersal ability?

4. What example does Quammen draw from the island of Guam?

5. What is archipelago speciation?

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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