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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 Leif Størmer's treatise on the Burgess Shale named?

2. How does Walcott group the Burgess arthropods among the arthropod phylum?

3. What bizarre features does Opabinia possess?

4. What did the "death of the dinosaurs" boundary make possible?

5. What was Whittington's 1979 monograph written about?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the purpose of Chapter 2: A Background for the Burgess Shale?

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

3. What did Leif Størmer's "Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology" describe?

4. What is Chapter 3: Reconstruction of the Burgess Shale: Toward a New View of Life about?

5. How is the "Cambrian explosion" defined?

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

7. Why are the Burgess Shale's arthropod designs odd?

8. How is the Precambrian Era defined?

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

10. How did Whittington try to uncover the bodily appendages of Opabinia?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Gould promotes the idea that evolution cannot hold up under intensive examination. First, examine evolution as a theory. Second, examine it as a theory in the context of the Burgess Shale. Support your agreement or disagreement with at least two logical reasons with solid examples. Can the conception of evolution hold up under intensive examination? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout Chapter 3 and Act 1, Gould delves into discussions of dominant paradigms. Cite three dominant paradigms, from any time period, that were associated with the Burgess Shale. Explain how these paradigms were discovered to be true or false. Explain you arguments with solid reasoning.

Essay Topic 3

Gould disagrees with Whittington regarding the significance of Aysehaia. Explain this disagreement in your own words. Use two examples from the book to illustrate the significance of Aysehaia, Whittington's position, and Gould's dissent.

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