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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 were Frank Preston's findings in plotting the distribution of species in island habitats?

2. What tragedy struck Wallace on his return to England?

3. How does Quammen find fault with other scientists studying extinctions?

4. When did the dodo go extinct?

5. What ecosystem does Wallace distinguish from ecosystems that developed in isolation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is archipelago speciation?

2. What example does Quammen draw from the island of Guam?

3. What factors have effectively broken the Persian rug of nature into pieces, according to Quammen?

4. What are the different terms Quammen describes for how people have accounted for the degradation of ecosystems?

5. What examples does Quammen use of dispersal ability?

6. When did the field of island biogeography begin?

7. What is the first explanation Quammen offers for the relationship between island size and species count?

8. What practical assertion does Quammen say Frank Preston made based on his findings?

9. What does Quammen use the island of Tasmania as an example of?

10. What was the understanding about the variety of life forms before the theory of evolution came along?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is ecotourism a solution to the problem of species loss? Is tourism a competitor to enforce some constraints on commerce and development? Would the problem of species loss be remedied or worsened if people followed Quammen's example and traveled from one island to another witnessing the environmental degradation and stress on species?

Essay Topic 2

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate your own reading of 'The Song of the Dodo'--did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 891 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample