Prepare for the AP Environmental Science (APES) exam with these practice questions and answers. This guide covers ecosystems, biodiversity, pollution, natural resources, and environmental sustainability.
Q: Clear Cutting
Answer: -Method of timber harvesting in which all trees in a forested area are removed in a single cutting.
Q: Deforestation
Answer: -Removal of trees from a forested area.
Q: Overgrazing
Answer: -Destruction of vegetation when too many grazing animals feed too long on a specific area of pasture or range land and exceed the carrying capacity of a range land or pasture area
Q: Organic Agriculture
Answer: -Growing crops with limited or no use of synthetic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers; genetically modified crops, raising livestock without use of synthetic growth regulators and feed additives; and using organic fertilizer (manure, legumes, compost) and nature pest controls (bugs that eat harmful bugs, plants that repel bugs and environmental controls such as crop rotation).
Q: Undernutrition
Answer: -Condition suffered by people who cannot grow or buy enough food to meet their basic needs.
Q: Malnutrition
Answer: -Faulty nutrition, caused by a diet that does not supply an individual with enough protein , essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients needed for good health.-1 in 6 people in less developed countries suffer from chronic undernutrition and malnutrition.
Q: Famine
Answer: -Widespread malnutrition and starvation in a particular area because of a shortage of food, usually caused by a drought, war, flood, earthquake, or other catastrophic events that disrupt food production and distribution.
Q: Industrialized Agriculture
Answer: -Production of large quantities of crops and livestock for domestic and foreign sale; involves use of large inputs of energy from fossil fuels (especially oil and natural gas), water, fertilizer, and pesticides.
Q: Soil Horizons
Answer: -Horizontal zones, or layers, that make up a particular mature soil. Each horizon has a distinct texture and composition that vary with different types of soils.
Q: Salinization
Answer: -Accumulation of salts in soil that can eventually make the soil unable to support plant growth.
Q: Tectonic Plates
Answer: -Various-sized areas of the earth’s lithosphere that move slowly around with the mantle’s flowing asthenosphere. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur around the boundaries of these plates.
Q: Seismic Waves
Answer: -When a fault forms, or when there is abrupt movement on an existing fault, energy that has accumulated over time is released in the form of vibrations.
Q: Focus
Answer: -The place where an earthquake begins, often far below the earth’s surface.
Q: Epicenter
Answer: -Located on the earth’s surface directly above the focus.
Q: Magnitude
Answer: -How scientists measure the severity of an earthquake.-A measure of ground motion (shaking) caused by the earthquake.
Q: Who is Wangari Maathai and what did she do?
Answer: -First Kenyan women to earn a PhD and to head an academic department at the University of Nairobi-Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004
Q: What are benefits of the Green Belt Movement (Wangari Maathai)?
Answer: -Enables women in Kenya to help themselves-Successful in planting trees-50,000 members planted 40 million trees-Women are paid for each tree that survives-Slows soil erosion-Provides shade and beauty-Combats global warming
Q: Old-growth vs. second-growth vs. tree plantations of forests.
Answer: -Old-growth/primary forest are uncut, or not disturbed for several hundred years (36%)-Second-growth are secondary ecological succession (60%)-Tree Plantation may supply the most industrial wood in the future (4%)
Q: What are the services provided by forests?
Answer: -Support energy flow and chemical cycling-Reduce soil erosion-Absorb and release water-Purify water and air-Influence local and regional climate-Store atmospheric carbon-Habitats-Wood for fuel-Lumber-Pulp to make paper-Mining-Livestock grazing-Recreation-Employment*-Nutrient Cycling-Climate Regulation-Erosion Control-Waste Treatment-Recreation-Raw Materials*
Q: What percentage have human activities reduced forest cover by in the past 8,000 years?
Answer: -46%
Q: What percentage of land area is forest cover in the United States?
Answer: -30%
Q: What percentage of the Amazon was deforested as of 2008?
Answer: -Increased from 1% in 1970 to 20% in 2008
Q: How can we reduce tropical deforestation?
Answer: -Nations of the world must unite to discourage deforestation and degradation.
Q: What are problems facing the United States national parks?
Answer: -Little/no protection from their governments.-Being too small to sustain large animal species.-Being too popular and, therefore, overused by people.
Q: Number of people worldwide deficient in vitamins and minerals. (One in ___).
Answer: 1 in 3 people.
Q: How many of the 50,000 plant species that we can eat supplies 90% of the worlds calories?
Answer: -14 out of the 50,000
Q: What is the percentage of income spent on food in the United States vs. less developed countries?
Answer: -Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food (down from 18% in 1966)-Less developed countries spend 40%
Q: What percentage of food in the United States contains GMO’s?
Answer: -At least 70% of food products
Q: Since 1900, what percentage of genetic diversity of crops have we lost?
Answer: -3/4ths (75%)
Q: What percentage of antibiotics are added to animal feed in the United States?
Answer: -70% of all antibiotic used in the United States
Q: Explain the 1st Green Revolution (Dates and Basis).
Answer: -Started in 1950-Used particular method to increase crop yields.-Monocultures are developed and planted, bred selectively, or genetically engineered to produce high yields of crops.-Large amounts of fertilizer, pesticides, and water are added to the crops. Yields of crops are increased through multiple cropping through the year.-U.S. farmer could now feed 129 people compared to 19 people in the 1940’s
Q: Explain the 2nd Green Revolution (Dates and Basis).
Answer: -Since 1967-Involved using fast-growing dwarf varieties of wheat and rice in countries with tropical and subtropical climates.
Q: What are causes of soil erosion? How can we minimize it?
Answer: -Primarily caused by flowing water and wind-People also cause erosion through farming, logging, construction, off-road vehicles, etc.-Crops can be planted today with less soil disturbance through conservation-tillage, tillage, contour farming, and strip farming.-Farmers can use cover crops to hold soil in place.-Windbreaks can be used to prevent soil from blowing away.-Conservation and fertilization can be used to restore soil fertility.
Q: What are the disadvantages of animal feedlots?
Answer: -Need large inputs of grain fish, meal, water, and fossil fuels.-Concentrate animal wastes that can pollute water.-Antibiotics can increase genetic resistance to microbes in humans.
Q: What are alternatives to pesticides (7)?
Answer: -Integrated Pest Management-Cultivation Practices (like crop rotations)-Genetic Engineering-Biological Control (natural pest enemies)-Synthetic Herbicides-Pheromones-Hormones
Q: What are the types of plate boundaries and subduction?
Answer: -Divergent-Convergent-Transform
Q: Chart on Page 221.
Answer: [See textbook]
Q: What are the three food systems that supply most of our food and concerns with lack of diversity (short answer)?
Answer: 1.) Croplands produce mostly grains, about 77% of the world’s food.2.) Rangelands provide meat, about 16% of the world’s food3.) Ocean fisheries (aquaculture) supplies about 7% of the world’s food.-Lack of biodiversity leads to increased resistance of antibiotics in meat and thus an increased chance of diseases, such as E. Coli. It also increases the chance of crops spreading a disease and thus killing off a major part of plant life.
Q: What are three types of rocks, examples, and explain each (short answer)?
Answer: 1.) Igneous – Formed by crystallization of magma-Basalt, Granite, and Obsidian2.) Sedimentary – Formed by weathering, erosion, deposition, and cementation.-Limestone, Sandstone, and Coal3.) Metamorphic – Formed from the other 2 adding high heat and pressure-Slate, Marble, and Quartzite
Q: What is poverty’s effect on deforestation and what are solutions (short answer)?
Answer: -Poverty causes people to focus on finding the food they need to survive. This leads to logging and clearing of the land for cattle grazing and the creation of vast plantations.-Amazon and South American – clear/burn mostly for cattle grazing and large soybean plantations.-Africa – Individuals struggling to survive leads to clearing plots for small scale farming and by harvesting wood for fuel.
Q: Explain concentrating on ecosystems rather than species (short answer).
Answer: -Four-point plan:1.) Map the world’s terrestrial ecosystems and create an inventory of the species contained in each of them and the natural services these ecosystems provide.2.) Locate and protect the most endangered ecosystems and species, with emphasis on protecting plant biodiversity and ecosystem services.3.) Seek to restore as many degraded ecosystems as possible.4.) Make development biodiversity-friendly by providing significant financial incentives (such as tax breaks and write-offs) and technical help to private landowners who agree to help protect endangered ecosystems.
Q: Explain the Divergent Boundary.
Answer: -Plates are moving apart.-New crust is created.-Magma is coming to the surface.-Produce volcanoes.-Where the sea floor is created (mid-ocean ridge).
Q: Explain the Convergent Boundary.
Answer: -Plates are coming together.-Crust is returning to the mantle.-Where the sea floor is destroyed (deep-ocean trench).
Q: Explain the Transform Boundary.
Answer: -Plates are slipping past each other.-Crust is not created or destroyed.-Produce earthquakes.
Q: Explain subduction.
Answer: -The sideways and downward movement of a plate of the earth’s crust into the mantle beneath another plate.