AP®︎ Environmental Science: Unit 9 Practice Test
Prepare for your quiz, test, or the AP exam with focused practice questions on Unit 9 of AP Environmental Science – Global Change.
Questions List
Unit 9 (All Topics)
Question 1 Topic 9.1Easy
This question tests the following: STB-4.A.1
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 is significant in environmental science because it demonstrated the potential for widespread radioactive contamination from nuclear accidents. In which country did this disaster occur?
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 9: Global Change
This unit analyzes global environmental changes like climate change, ocean impacts, biodiversity loss, and solutions to these challenges.
Topic 9.1: Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Learning Objective: STB-4.A
Explain the importance of stratospheric ozone to life on Earth.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.A.1
The stratospheric ozone layer is important to the evolution of life on Earth and the continued health and survival of life on Earth.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.A.2
Stratospheric ozone depletion is caused by anthropogenic factors, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and natural factors, such as the melting of ice crystals in the atmosphere at the beginning of the Antarctic spring.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.A.3
A decrease in stratospheric ozone increases the UV rays that reach the Earth’s surface. Exposure to UV rays can lead to skin cancer and cataracts in humans.
Topic 9.2: Reducing Ozone Depletion
Learning Objective: STB-4.B
Describe chemicals used to substitute for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.B.1
Ozone depletion can be mitigated by replacing ozone-depleting chemicals with substitutes that do not deplete the ozone layer. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are one such replacement, but some are strong greenhouse gases.
Topic 9.3: The Greenhouse Effect
Learning Objective: STB-4.C
Identify the greenhouse gases.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.C.1
The principal greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.C.2
While water vapor is a greenhouse gas, it doesn't contribute significantly to global climate change because it has a short residence time in the atmosphere.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.C.3
The greenhouse effect results in the surface temperature necessary for life on Earth to exist.
Learning Objective: STB-4.D
Identify the sources and potency of the greenhouse gases.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.D.1
Carbon dioxide, which has a global warming potential (GWP) of 1, is used as a reference point for the comparison of different greenhouse gases and their impacts on global climate change. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have the highest GWP, followed by nitrous oxide, then methane.
Topic 9.4: Increases in the Greenhouse Gases
Learning Objective: STB-4.E
Identify the threats to human health and the environment posed by an increase in greenhouse gases.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.E.1
Global climate change, caused by excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, can lead to a variety of environmental problems including rising sea levels resulting from melting ice sheets and ocean water expansion, and disease vectors spreading from the tropics toward the poles. These problems can lead to changes in population dynamics and population movements in response.
Topic 9.5: Global Climate Change
Learning Objective: STB-4.F
Explain how changes in climate, both short- and long-term, impact ecosystems.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.1
The Earth has undergone climate change throughout geologic time, with major shifts in global temperatures causing periods of warming and cooling as recorded with CO₂ data and ice cores.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.2
Effects of climate change include rising temperatures, melting permafrost and sea ice, rising sea levels, and displacement of coastal populations.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.3
Marine ecosystems are affected by changes in sea level, some positively, such as in newly created habitats on now-flooded continental shelves, and some negatively, such as deeper communities that may no longer be in the photic zone of seawater.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.4
Winds generated by atmospheric circulation help transport heat throughout the Earth. Climate change may change circulation patterns, as temperature changes may impact Hadley cells and the jet stream.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.5
Oceanic currents, or the ocean conveyor belt, carry heat throughout the world. When these currents change, it can have a big impact on global climate, especially in coastal regions.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.6
Climate change can affect soil through changes in temperature and rainfall, which can impact soil's viability and potentially increase erosion.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.7
Earth's polar regions are showing faster response times to global climate change because ice and snow in these regions reflect the most energy back out to space, leading to a positive feedback loop.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.8
As the Earth warms, this ice and snow melts, meaning less solar energy is radiated back into space and instead is absorbed by the Earth's surface. This in turn causes more warming of the polar regions.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.9
Global climate change response time in the Arctic is due to positive feedback loops involving melting sea ice and thawing tundra, and the subsequent release of greenhouse gases like methane.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.F.10
One consequence of the loss of ice and snow in polar regions is the effect on species that depend on the ice for habitat and food.
Topic 9.6: Ocean Warming
Learning Objective: STB-4.G
Explain the causes and effects of ocean warming.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.G.1
Ocean warming is caused by the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.G.2
Ocean warming can affect marine species in a variety of ways, including loss of habitat, and metabolic and reproductive changes.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.G.3
Ocean warming is causing coral bleaching, which occurs when the loss of algae within corals cause the corals to bleach white. Some corals recover and some die.
Topic 9.7: Ocean Acidification
Learning Objective: STB-4.H
Explain the causes and effects of ocean acidification.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.H.1
Ocean acidification is the decrease in pH of the oceans, primarily due to increased CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere, and can be expressed as chemical equations.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.H.2
As more CO₂ is released into the atmosphere, the oceans, which absorb a large part of that CO₂, become more acidic.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.H.3
Anthropogenic activities that contribute to ocean acidification are those that lead to increased CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere: burning of fossil fuels, vehicle emissions, and deforestation.
Essential Knowledge: STB-4.H.4
Ocean acidification damages coral because acidification makes it difficult for them to form shells, due to the loss of calcium carbonate.
Topic 9.8: Invasive Species
Learning Objective: EIN-4.A
Explain the environmental problems associated with invasive species and strategies to control them.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.A.1
Invasive species are species that can live, and sometimes thrive, outside of their normal habitat. Invasive species can sometimes be beneficial, but they are considered invasive when they threaten native species.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.A.2
Invasive species are often generalist, r-selected species and therefore may outcompete native species for resources.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.A.3
Invasive species can be controlled through a variety of human interventions.
Topic 9.9: Endangered Species
Learning Objective: EIN-4.B
Explain how species become endangered and strategies to combat the problem.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.B.1
A variety of factors can lead to a species becoming threatened with extinction, such as being extensively hunted, having limited diet, being outcompeted by invasive species, or having specific and limited habitat requirements.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.B.2
Not all species will be in danger of extinction when exposed to the same changes in their ecosystem. Species that are able to adapt to changes in their environment or that are able to move to a new environment are less likely to face extinction.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.B.3
Selective pressures are any factors that change the behaviors and fitness of organisms within an environment.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.B.4
Species in a given ecosystem compete for resources like territory, food, mates, and habitat, and this competition may lead to endangerment or extinction.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.B.5
Strategies to protect animal populations include criminalizing poaching, protecting animal habitats, and legislation.
Topic 9.10: Human Impacts on Biodiversity
Learning Objective: EIN-4.C
Explain how human activities affect biodiversity and strategies to combat the problem.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.C.1
HIPPCO (habitat destruction, invasive species, population growth, pollution, climate change, and overexploitation) describes the main factors leading to a decrease in biodiversity.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.C.2
Habitat fragmentation occurs when large habitats are broken into smaller, isolated areas. Causes of habitat fragmentation include the construction of roads and pipelines, clearing for agriculture or development, and logging.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.C.3
The scale of habitat fragmentation that has an adverse effect on the inhabitants of a given ecosystem will vary from species to species within that ecosystem.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.C.4
Global climate change can cause habitat loss via changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level rise.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.C.5
Some organisms have been somewhat or completely domesticated and are now managed for economic returns, such as honeybee colonies and domestic livestock. This domestication can have a negative impact on the biodiversity of that organism.
Essential Knowledge: EIN-4.C.6
Some ways humans can mitigate the impact of loss of biodiversity include creating protected areas, use of habitat corridors, promoting sustainable land use practices, and restoring lost habitats.
