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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why were low-lying parts of New Orleans not abandoned to the water?
(a) It did not make sense politically.
(b) The locals fought to save their property.
(c) After the most recent hurricanes, they recovered on their own.
(d) It was not necessary.

2. To what does Kolbert compare the bringing back of a species from the brink of extinction?
(a) Stockholm Syndrome.
(b) God Syndrome.
(c) Reincarnation.
(d) A heavenly miracle.

3. What is the name Kolbert gives for the ability for humans to now watch other species go extinct?
(a) A ticking time bomb to the world's end.
(b) A species travesty.
(c) An observable phenomena.
(d) A timeline to doomsday.

4. Manly and nearly how many argonauts gathered in Salt Lake City to travel together to gold country in northern California?
(a) 500.
(b) 50.
(c) 5,000.
(d) 4,000.

5. 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) Pupfish.
(b) Goldfish.
(c) Carp.
(d) Minnows.

6. What is NOT a reason for why Devil’s Hole is a geological oddity?
(a) It holds water left over from the Pleistocene age.
(b) The cavern is narrow in some areas and very deep in others, much like a swimming pool.
(c) The pupfish have evolved to survive in the harsh conditions of Devils Hole.
(d) The fish were washed here when the whole area had more water and have never been able to leave.

7. What two drainage basins were linked with the reversal of the Chicago River and the creation of the Sanitary and Ship Canal?
(a) The Chicago River and Great Lakes.
(b) The Mississippi River and Chicago River.
(c) The Mississippi River and Great Lakes.
(d) The Great Plains and the Great Lakes.

8. What is NOT something that Kolbert says human domination over nature has caused?
(a) More species diversity and safer drinking water.
(b) Large amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
(c) Dammed and diverted rivers.
(d) Earthquakes.

9. What are Van Oppen and her students’ plans for coral?
(a) Keep the reefs from dying and shrinking any further.
(b) Create new reefs and ecosystems.
(c) Revitalize the reefs that have been lost.
(d) Buy time until the world takes climate change more seriously.

10. How does Kolbert feel about the community of Isle de Jean Charles?
(a) She understands why no measures are being taken to save it, but she feels terrible for the residents.
(b) She feels outrage for how they have been mistreated.
(c) She feels that they should have left years ago.
(d) She believes the community should move on and forget the island.

11. To what is the land in the southern region of Louisiana compared?
(a) A river of mud.
(b) Play-doh.
(c) Slime.
(d) Warm Jell-O.

12. Each day at the Old River Control Auxiliary Structure, the gates are raised or lowered, depending on what?
(a) The weather report.
(b) The amount of rain the region as received.
(c) The direction of the wind on any particular day.
(d) The water level and activity on that particular day.

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

14. When the canal in Chicago reversed the flow of the river, into where did it eventually lead?
(a) The Pacific Ocean.
(b) The Atlantic Ocean.
(c) The Gulf of Mexico.
(d) The St. Lawrence River.

15. What two events sped up the drop in pupfish numbers?
(a) Over-crowding of species and an overgrown fungus.
(b) An earthquake and drought.
(c) Regular above ground nuclear blasts and the pumping of water for a new community.
(d) Rising sea levels and air temperatures.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Manly’s trip west end up so arduous?

2. Kolbert jumps to a day when she meets Alex Kolker, a professor at LSU, who has what as a side gig?

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

4. When are the eggs harvested and brought back to Devils Hole Jr.?

5. With whom does Kolbert ride in a boat far down along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal?

(see the answer keys)

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