Practice Test 11 - AP Environmental Science
20 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.
- Urban sprawl increases commuting distances; which greenhouse-gas outcome is most likely?
- A dam's reservoir replaces a fast-moving river with a large area of slow-moving water. Which ecological change is most likely within the inundated area?
- A student claims: "Because ozone is bad, all ozone is harmful." Which statement best corrects this claim while staying focused on air pollution concepts?
- A household installs a low-flow showerhead, reducing hot water use. Which footprint component is most directly affected?
- In sustainability discussions, what is a key limitation of relying only on technological fixes?
- In the Northern Hemisphere, which seasonal change is most directly caused by Earth's axial tilt rather than Earth–Sun distance?
- A coastal estuary near a city experiences frequent summer "dead zones." After a sewage treatment plant upgrade reduces phosphorus inputs by 60% but leaves nitrogen inputs unchanged, managers want to predict the most likely ecological response over the next year. Which outcome is most consistent with eutrophication dynamics?
- A fishery removes 70% of a predator species; prey fish increase, then crash due to disease and starvation. What does this illustrate?
- Two islands are the same size (30 km²) but differ in distance: - Near Island: 3 km from mainland - Far Island: 60 km from mainland Assuming similar habitats and no human impacts, which prediction best matches island biogeography theory?
- A wetland food web contains algae → zooplankton → small fish → large fish → osprey. A persistent pesticide like DDT enters the water at a low concentration. After several months, which organism is most likely to have the highest concentration of the POP, and why?
- A spring storm causes heavy runoff from lawns and farms into a freshwater reservoir. Within two weeks, the reservoir shows a dense algal bloom, followed by lower dissolved oxygen and fish deaths. Considering the phosphorus cycle (weathering inputs, fertilizer inputs, biological uptake, and decomposition) and the fact that phosphorus has no significant atmospheric phase, what is the most likely immediate driver of the bloom?
- A smartphone manufacturer needs lithium for batteries, copper for wiring, and electricity for assembly. Lithium and copper are mined from ore deposits that take geologic time to form, while electricity can be generated from wind. Which pairing correctly matches each item to its resource type?
- After monsoon flooding, clinic reports 4× diarrhea cases; wells near latrines; which factor most increases waterborne pathogen transmission?
- A freshwater pond is limed to raise pH from 6.0 to 7.5; what is the main aquaculture rationale?
- A region is in nonattainment for ozone under the Clean Air Act. Policymakers debate whether to require scrubbers on coal plants or catalytic converters on vehicles. Which option would more directly reduce the main precursors of photochemical smog in urban areas?
- A forest experiences a wildfire. Ash containing minerals is washed into a nearby stream during the next rain. Which statement best predicts the effect on aquatic phosphorus levels and why?
- A mine is located in a region with frequent earthquakes. Which tailings-related mitigation is most appropriate?
- A university replaces printed course packets with digital PDFs. In the waste hierarchy, this change is best described as:
- A researcher measures biodiversity before and after a drought in a desert shrubland. After the drought, the number of shrub species remains 12, but 10 of the 12 species now have very low abundance while 2 species dominate most of the area. Which interpretation best describes what changed and why it matters?
- A natural gas well uses hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract methane from shale. Which outcome is a plausible environmental concern associated with this extraction technique?