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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the conclusion Soule and Gilpin came to regarding the Texas question?

2. What risky move did Carl Jones make to save the Mauritius kestrel?

3. How does Quammen describe Aru?

4. Why were people cutting down the forests in the place where Lovejoy implemented his plan?

5. What did Wilson and MacArthur argue influenced the number of species on an island?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Quammen's argument circle back to its origins in chapter nine, "World in Pieces"?

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

4. What did Simberloff and Abele propose as a result of their data?

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

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

7. Describe Quammen's attempt to see an indri.

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

9. How did Quammen get to Aru?

10. What was Quammen looking for at Aru?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 2

Do you think the earth itself could become an island for the human species? How could the theories Quammen describes in plants and animals apply to human beings in the future? Describe a scenario in which human beings could have to demonstrate the same adaptive techniques other animals showed on islands.

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 704 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample