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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. According to Jared Diamond, a nature reserve has to have what characteristics, in order to support a large number of species?
(a) On an island.
(b) Close to agricultural land.
(c) Large and near other reserves.
(d) Far away from human habitation.

2. What does Quammen say the indri's future looks like?
(a) Likely extinction.
(b) Quammen says it is uncertain.
(c) Expansion of territory and population.
(d) Probable recovery.

3. How did Carl Jones protect the Mauritius kestrels when their population began to recover?
(a) Domesticating the kestrels.
(b) Trapping kestrel predators.
(c) Breeding the species that provide food for the kestrel.
(d) Killing other birds that would compete for food.

4. What did Wilson and MacArthur argue influenced the number of species on an island?
(a) A natural rhythm of immigration and extinction.
(b) The island's distance from the mainland.
(c) The altitude of its mountains.
(d) The fertility of the soil, or temperature of the water.

5. What is the literary term for the final chapter?
(a) Epigram.
(b) Epilogue.
(c) Prologue.
(d) Epigraph.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Wilson and MacArthur test their theory about recolonization?

2. Who is Bedo?

3. What was the species Quammen sought called by locals?

4. What observation did Wilson make to Quammen?

5. What does Quammen say increases as individuals breed with genetically similar individuals?

Short Essay Questions

1. What data did Simberloff and Abele deploy in challenging this theory?

2. What is the concept of the minimum viable population?

3. What is Quammen doing at the end of the book?

4. Why did Quammen choose Aru as the destination for his final chapter?

5. How does Quammen describe Bedo's death?

6. What theory did Simberloff and Abele challenge in a 1976 article?

7. How did Quammen get to Aru?

8. What other ecosystems function as islands and show the same properties of species population and diversity as islands, according to Quammen?

9. What experiment took place in the Florida Keys?

10. What did MacArthur and Wilson argue in 'An Equilibrium Theory of Insular Zoogeography'?

(see the answer keys)

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