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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. By the time 2016’s global bleaching event ended in 2017, what percentage of the Great Barrier Reef was affected?
(a) Over 90%.
(b) Over 50%.
(c) Over 75%.
(d) Just under 90%.

2. How much land mass has the Isle de Jean Charles lost since the 1950s?
(a) It has shrunk from thirty-five square miles to twenty-five square miles.
(b) It has shrunk from thirty-five square miles to five square miles.
(c) It has shrunk from thirty-five square miles to half a square mile.
(d) It has shrunk from thirty-five square miles to fifteen square miles.

3. When Manly and the others arrived at the edge of Death Valley, what did they think the fish were that they saw swimming in the cavern pool?
(a) Carp.
(b) Pupfish.
(c) Goldfish.
(d) Minnows.

4. How many species are thought to live in reefs around the world?
(a) 10 - 20 million.
(b) 1 - 9 million.
(c) 15,000.
(d) 10 - 90,000

5. With whom does Kolbert ride in a boat far down along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal?
(a) The Clean Water Act Organization.
(b) Rachel Carson.
(c) The Friends of the Chicago River.
(d) The United States Army Corps of Engineers.

6. After a week with Gates, how does Kolbert feel?
(a) Sad.
(b) Inspired.
(c) Nervous.
(d) Angry.

7. Why is the Kaneohe Bay a prime location for studying and creating super coral?
(a) The coral has never suffered from bleaching.
(b) The coral population has only continued to grow.
(c) It had been a sewage dumping ground but the reef started to revive on its own.
(d) It is filled with coral reefs.

8. How much of the Caribbean coral disappeared in the 1980s?
(a) 90%.
(b) Over 1/2.
(c) 1/4.
(d) 2/3.

9. What does Kolbert find at LSU’s Center for River Studies?
(a) Photographs of the delta.
(b) Plans for reducing flooding in the delta.
(c) A school of Asian carp.
(d) A model of the delta.

10. What is wrong with the Wood Screw Pumps in the twenty-four pumping stations that pump water out of the city?
(a) They are difficult to replace.
(b) They are speeding up the sinking of the city.
(c) They are not effective at keeping out water.
(d) Many are broken and need to be fixed.

11. When Kolbert visits the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ location in Chicago soon after her cruise down the sewage canal, she meets with whom?
(a) The engineer in charge of the levees.
(b) The engineer in charge or rerouting the river.
(c) The engineer in charge of the electric fish barriers.
(d) The engineer in charge of cleaning the sewage canal.

12. How did Ruth Gates fall in love with the ocean?
(a) Summers spent by the sea.
(b) Classes at the zoo as a kid.
(c) Growing up near the ocean.
(d) Watching TV as a kid.

13. To what island does Kolbert compare desert ecosystems?
(a) The Arctic.
(b) The Great Plains.
(c) The Amazon.
(d) Galápagos.

14. What event does Kolbert attend that is to bring awareness and interest in eating carp?
(a) CarpFest.
(b) Carp - All You Can Eat!
(c) ChefCarp.
(d) Carpapaloosa.

15. Why are Kolbert and Gates’ plans to meet cancelled?
(a) Both women were too busy.
(b) The institute was under construction.
(c) Gates has lesions on her brain she hoped to have treated in Mexico.
(d) A huge storm cancelled their plans.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Down the River Chapter 1, what examples of metaphors does Elizabeth Kolbert give involving rivers?

2. When the United States won a case against the developer, Cappaert Enterprises, who took over the land?

3. What is Kolker’s prediction for New Orleans?

4. What is the scientific name for the Devil’s Hole pupfish?

5. What act led to the introduction of Asian carp?

(see the answer keys)

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