AP®︎ Environmental Science: Unit 2 Practice Test
Prepare for your quiz, test, or the AP exam with focused practice questions on Unit 2 of AP Environmental Science – The Living World: Biodiversity.
Questions List
Unit 2 (All Topics)
Question 1 Topic 2.1Easy
This question tests the following: ERT-2.A.1
What does biodiversity refer to?
What You’re Being Tested On:
Explore the learning objectives taken directly from the College Board’s AP® Environmental Science Curriculum. Ensure you’re prepared for the exact topics covered on the AP® exam, in-class tests, and quizzes, and gain confidence in your mastery of the material.
Unit 2: The Living World: Biodiversity
This unit examines the variety of life on Earth, the benefits ecosystems provide, and how environmental changes affect biodiversity and resilience.
Topic 2.1: Introduction to Biodiversity
Learning Objective: ERT-2.A
Explain levels of biodiversity and their importance to ecosystems.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.A.1
Biodiversity in an ecosystem includes genetic, species, and habitat diversity.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.A.2
The more genetically diverse a population is, the better it can respond to environmental stressors. Additionally, a population bottleneck can lead to a loss of genetic diversity.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.A.3
Ecosystems that have a larger number of species are more likely to recover from disruptions.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.A.4
Loss of habitat leads to a loss of specialist species, followed by a loss of generalist species. It also leads to reduced numbers of species that have large territorial requirements.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.A.5
Species richness refers to the number of different species found in an ecosystem.
Topic 2.2: Ecosystem Services
Learning Objective: ERT-2.B
Describe ecosystem services.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.B.1
There are four categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting.
Learning Objective: ERT-2.C
Describe the results of human disruptions to ecosystem services.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.C.1
Anthropogenic activities can disrupt ecosystem services, potentially resulting in economic and ecological consequences.
Topic 2.3: Island Biogeography
Learning Objective: ERT-2.D
Describe island biogeography.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.D.1
Island biogeography is the study of the ecological relationships and distribution of organisms on islands, and of these organisms' community structures.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.D.2
Islands have been colonized in the past by new species arriving from elsewhere.
Learning Objective: ERT-2.E
Describe the role of island biogeography in evolution.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.E.1
Many island species have evolved to be specialists versus generalists because of the limited resources, such as food and territory, on most islands. The long-term survival of specialists may be jeopardized if and when invasive species, typically generalists, are introduced and outcompete the specialists.
Topic 2.4: Ecological Tolerance
Learning Objective: ERT-2.F
Describe ecological tolerance.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.F.1
Ecological tolerance refers to the range of conditions, such as temperature, salinity, flow rate, and sunlight that an organism can endure before injury or death results.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.F.2
Ecological tolerance can apply to individuals and to species.
Topic 2.5: Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems
Learning Objective: ERT-2.G
Explain how natural disruptions, both short- and long-term, impact an ecosystem.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.G.1
Natural disruptions to ecosystems have environmental consequences that may, for a given occurrence, be as great as, or greater than, many human-made disruptions.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.G.2
Earth system processes operate on a range of scales in terms of time. Processes can be periodic, episodic, or random.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.G.3
Earth's climate has changed over geological time for many reasons.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.G.4
Sea-level has varied significantly as a result of changes in the amount of glacial ice on Earth over geological time.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.G.5
Major environmental change or upheaval commonly results in large swathes of habitat changes.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.G.6
Wildlife engages in both short- and long-term migration for a variety of reasons, including natural disruptions.
Topic 2.6: Adaptations
Learning Objective: ERT-2.H
Describe how organisms adapt to their environment.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.H.1
Organisms adapt to their environment over time, both in short- and long-term scales, via incremental changes at the genetic level.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.H.2
Environmental changes, either sudden or gradual, may threaten a species’ survival, requiring individuals to alter behaviors, move, or perish.
Topic 2.7: Ecological Succession
Learning Objective: ERT-2.I
Describe ecological succession.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.I.1
There are two main types of ecological succession: primary and secondary succession.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.I.2
A keystone species in an ecosystem is a species whose activities have a particularly significant role in determining community structure.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.I.3
An indicator species is a plant or animal that, by its presence, abundance, scarcity, or chemical composition, demonstrates that some distinctive aspect of the character or quality of an ecosystem is present.
Learning Objective: ERT-2.J
Describe the effect of ecological succession on ecosystems.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.J.1
Pioneer members of an early successional species commonly move into unoccupied habitat and over time adapt to its particular conditions, which may result in the origin of new species.
Essential Knowledge: ERT-2.J.2
Succession in a disturbed ecosystem will affect the total biomass, species richness, and net productivity over time.
