Practice Test 5 - AP Environmental Science

20 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.

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1. In a temperate grassland food chain: grasses (producer) → grasshopper → frog → snake → hawk. Which organism is the secondary consumer?
2. A coastal community is deciding which environmental action would most directly address the root cause of global ocean acidification affecting nearby coral reefs. Which action is most directly linked to reducing ocean acidification?
3. Following a clearcut, a monitoring team observes increased suspended sediment and reduced light penetration in a downstream lake. Which ecological effect in the lake is most likely, and how would selective cutting tend to differ?
4. A community plans to site a hazardous waste facility. Site X is outside the drinking-water watershed (across a divide). Site Y is inside the watershed, upstream of the intake. Which is the best reason to prefer Site X to protect water quality? Context: A watershed is the land area draining to a common water body; divides separate drainage basins.
5. A population is currently above carrying capacity ($N > K$). Under logistic assumptions, which outcome is most likely in the short term?
6. A forested area is divided into many small lots for rural housing. Each lot keeps some trees, but domestic cats and dogs are common, and night lighting increases. Native songbird nesting success drops most near houses. Which explanation best identifies the primary driver?
7. A farmer uses strip cropping, alternating rows of corn with rows of grass along the contour of a hill. Which mechanism best explains how strip cropping reduces erosion?
8. Which statement best explains why genetic diversity is considered a component of biodiversity?
9. A map of projected climate impacts shows some regions getting wetter and others drier under continued warming. Which statement best explains why precipitation changes vary by region?
10. A wetland is drained and filled to build an industrial park. After construction, downstream flooding becomes more frequent and water quality declines because fewer sediments and nutrients are filtered. Which ecosystem service loss best matches this scenario?
11. A suburban neighborhood applies lawn pesticides and herbicides weekly. After rainstorms, these chemicals wash into a nearby pond where frogs experience developmental abnormalities and insect populations decline sharply. Which is the best identification of the human impact?
12. Which measure most directly reduces energy demand in buildings without changing energy supply?
13. A PV system is installed in a high-latitude location with short winter days. Which limitation is most relevant to expected seasonal electricity production?
14. In a coastal city, a clear night is followed by a calm, sunny morning. By 8 a.m., commuters notice a visible brown haze near the ground and poor air quality alerts. A weather balloon shows air at the surface is cooler than air about 300 m above it. Under normal conditions, air temperature decreases with altitude and warm surface air rises and mixes pollutants upward. Which statement best explains why pollution is worse this morning?
15. A hillside has been deforested. After a strong rain, more water travels over the exposed surface into streams, causing muddy water downstream. Which water-cycle process has increased due to deforestation?
16. A dam is removed after decades of operation. Large amounts of stored sediment begin moving downstream. Which short-term impact is most likely immediately after removal?
17. A long, nearly straight fault cuts across a region. Towns along the fault experience frequent shallow earthquakes, but there is no volcanic arc, no deep ocean trench, and no widespread mountain building. Several groundwater basins are offset laterally across the fault, affecting local water resources. Which plate-boundary type best matches these observations?
18. Which statement best describes the role of transmission lines in renewable-heavy energy systems?
19. In an ecosystem, primary consumers receive about 10% of the energy stored in producers. If primary consumers collectively have $3{,}200\ \text{kJ}$, what is the best estimate for energy stored in producers?
20. Two neighboring countries share a migratory fish stock in international waters. Each country increases its fleet size to capture more fish before the other does. The stock declines. Which international agreement would best reduce the incentive to overfish?

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