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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 does Quammen say is distinctive about the indri?

2. What human actions make island biogeography applicable in this new location?

3. What was the conclusion Soule and Gilpin came to regarding the Texas question?

4. What condition would help a species breed out harmful genes?

5. What does Lawrence Abele study?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do genetics play a role in the minimum viable population?

2. Who was Thomas Lovejoy, and what was his reaction to the debate Simberloff and Abele began?

3. How did Quammen get to Aru?

4. What is the definition of 'viable' in Quammen's account?

5. What did Lovejoy find in his studies on this question?

6. What conclusion dis scientists reach in the Texas case?

7. What is the concept of the minimum viable population?

8. What did Simberloff and Abele propose as a result of their data?

9. What theory did Simberloff and Abele challenge in a 1976 article?

10. What other ecosystems function as islands and show the same properties of species population and diversity as islands, according to Quammen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the genre of 'The Song of the Dodo'? Is it a travel narrative? Is it primarily a memoir? A book-length article about a scientific field? Is it a scientific treatise?

Essay Topic 2

How realistic is this book? What parts are not believable? What leaps of faith does the author require of the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Is Quammen somehow at fault for not making solid proposals for how to mitigate switch loss? Is his informative book somehow flawed for failing to make recommendations? Debate this proposition using examples from the book.

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