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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. Why, according to Quammen, is the theory of equilibrium important to science?

2. What habitats did researchers have to examine in the Texas case?

3. What does Quammen say Wilson and MacArthur started with, as they developed their theories?

4. What does Quammen believe happened to Bedo?

5. How many indri are living in the forests Quammen visited?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Quammen's attempt to see an indri.

2. What did people argue over in the wake of Simberloff and Abele's 1976 article?

3. What was the practical example of species management Quammen cited from Texas?

4. What data did Simberloff and Abele deploy in challenging this theory?

5. How does Quammen describe the indri?

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

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

8. What is Quammen doing at the end of the book?

9. What note does Quammen end 'The Song of the Dodo' on?

10. What factors affected the populations on an island, according to 'An Equilibrium Theory of Insular Zoogeography'?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

If you were in charge of protecting the maximum number of species in your region, would you create one large nature reserve, or a number of smaller reserves? Use arguments from the book as well as descriptions of local wildlife in your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Quammen minimize Darwin's accomplishment as the founder of the theory of evolution? What does he benefit by debunking Darwin's accomplishment? Is it attraction to the underdog position, do you think? Was Wallace rely a superior scientist? Is Quammen just being contentious?

Essay Topic 3

Do you think the earth itself could become an island for the human species? How could the theories Quammen describes in plants and animals apply to human beings in the future? Describe a scenario in which human beings could have to demonstrate the same adaptive techniques other animals showed on islands.

(see the answer keys)

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