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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 did Wilson show Quammen when the two men visited?

2. What is the tone of the ending of the book?

3. What human actions make island biogeography applicable in this new location?

4. Why, according to Quammen, is the theory of equilibrium important to science?

5. What does Quammen describe about Bedo?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Krakatau serve as evidence for MacArthur and Wilson's thesis?

2. Where was Quammen sent, in order to find what he was looking for?

3. What was the effect of 'An Equilibrium Theory of Insular Zoogeography', according to Quammen?

4. What was the practical example of species management Quammen cited from Texas?

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

6. What did people argue over in the wake of Simberloff and Abele's 1976 article?

7. What did Lovejoy find in his studies on this question?

8. How does Quammen describe Bedo's death?

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

10. Who was Thomas Lovejoy, and what was his reaction to the debate Simberloff and Abele began?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How realistic is this book? What parts are not believable? What leaps of faith does the author require of the reader?

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

What is Quammen's conclusion in the debate over the size of nature reserves? Does he support building small or large reserves? How does he arrive at his conclusion?

(see the answer keys)

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