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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. When was the boundary between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras?
(a) 225 thousand years ago.
(b) 355 million years ago.
(c) 225 million years ago.
(d) 20 thousand years ago.

2. What cost comes with accepting Gould's picture of human evolution?
(a) Physical cost.
(b) Psychological cost.
(c) Compensatory cost.
(d) Monetary cost.

3. What is the Burgess Shale?
(a) A territory of British Columbia.
(b) The smallest collection of fossils ever discovered.
(c) The Canadian Rockies.
(d) The largest collection of fossils ever discovered.

4. What did Whittington conclude about Yohoia in 1975?
(a) Yohoia is a known arthropod.
(b) Yohoia is in multiple systems.
(c) Yohoia does not fit anywhere.
(d) Yohoia is an unknown trilobite.

5. What does the evolution of life contain, according to Gould's explanations and illustrations?
(a) "Reconstruction and growth."
(b) "Decimation and diversification."
(c) "Agreement and speculation."
(d) "Annihilation and acceptance."

Short Answer Questions

1. What compose eras?

2. Who was America's "greatest paleontologist and scientific administrator"?

3. What make up periods?

4. What does Gould strain to emphasize for his audience?

5. What was Yohoia specialized for?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the first chapter of "Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History" about?

2. What did Whittington find Opabinia to actually be?

3. What is the definition of decimation in the relation to the evolution of life?

4. Why is the Burgess Shale acknowledged as the most significant collection of fossils yet discovered?

5. What did using these new methods allow Whittington's team to do?

6. What is the boundary between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras famous?

7. How did Walcott's taxonomy have to be significantly updated?

8. How does Gould begin Chapter 2: A Background for the Burgess Shale?

9. Why do paleontologists find Opabinia unbelievable and fascinating?

10. What did people think Opabinia was and what did Whittington choose to believe about this idea?

(see the answer keys)

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