AP Environmental Science Unit 9 Practice Test: Global Change

The correct answer is (D). Different chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can remain in the atmosphere for different lengths of time, some for as long as about 140 years. They have a global warming potential ranging from less than 5,000 to over 13,500.

The correct answer is (C). A greenhouse gas is a gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process causes the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are not greenhouse gases.

The correct answer is (D). Fluorinated gases (such as HFCs and PFCs) are a group of man-made gases used in a range of industrial applications. Because they do not damage the ozone layer, they are often used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances. However, fluorinated gases are powerful greenhouse gases, with a global warming effect that can be thousands of time times greater than that of carbon dioxide.

The correct answer is (D). Increased average air temperatures can cause these, and many other effects, on the Earth.

The correct answer is (D). In addition to the list above, glacial melting also increases the variation in the water flows into rivers.

The correct answer is (D). The least concern status is for species that are widespread and abundant. Data-deficient species have no reliable data to assess their status. Extinct species are those that were known to exist as recently as the year 1500 but no longer exist. Threatened species have a high risk of extinction in the future. Near-threatened species are very likely to become threatened in the near future.

The correct answer is (B). Honeybees are exotic (also known as alien species) species because they live outside their historical range. Native species have lived in their historical range for thousands of years. Threatened species have a high risk of extinction in the future. Invasive species and invasive alien species are the same thing. They are non-native species capable of causing significant harm to the environment, the economy or to society.

The correct answer is (D). All of the following have contributed to the worldwide loss of biodiversity: overharvesting, pollution, habitat loss, and climate change.

The correct answer is (A). Carbon dioxide comes from burning coal and oil, as well as deforestation and cellular respiration. Chlorofluorocarbons are from air conditioners, refrigerators, foam products and insulation. Nitrous oxide is from burning fossil fuels, fertilizers, livestock wastes, and plastic manufacturing. Methane is from rice cultivation, cattle/sheep raising, landfills, natural gas leaks, and coal production. Sulfur hexafluoride is from the electrical industry as a replacement for PCBs.

The correct answer is (A). Over the past 100 years average global temperatures have risen by a little more than 1°C. The trend of increasing temperatures began in the late '70s. Seventeen of the 18 warmest years in the 136-year record all have occurred since 2001.

The correct answer is (D). The Montreal Protocol is an international agreement designed to protect the stratospheric ozone layer.

The Clean Air Act was passed in 1963 was designed to control air pollution on a national level.

The Kyoto Protocol is a plan created by the United Nations that tries to reduce the effects of climate change.

Paris Agreement set out a global action plan to put the world on tract to avoid dangerous climate changes.

The Air Pollution Control Act addressed air pollution as a national problem and announced that research and additional steps to improve the situation needed to be taken.

The correct answer is (B). The Kyoto Protocol was a United Nations plan to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The agreement put the obligation to reduce emissions on developed countries, mandating that 37 industrialized nations plus the European Community cut their greenhouse gas emissions. More than 100 developing countries, including China and India, were not required to reduce emissions. The United States never ratified the agreement and Canada withdrew from it in 2011.

The correct answer is (C). The Paris Agreement states that the threat of climate change is "urgent and potentially irreversible," and can only be addressed through "the widest possible cooperation by all countries" and "deep reductions in global emissions." The goal of the agreement is to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Each country submitted a voluntary pledge to reduce emissions beginning in 2020. In June 2017, President Trump announced his intention to withdraw the US from the agreement.

The correct answer is (C). There are no know naturally occurring sources of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

The correct answer is (A). Wolves are keystone species that help to establish a balance between producers and primary consumers in the same ecosystem they are found living in. Without the wolves, elk and deer were decimating the local plant life reducing the primary productivity of ecosystem.

The correct answer is (C). It is more likely that growing regions will shit towards the poles and current agriculture sites will experience drought-like conditions.

The correct answer is (D). HCFCs are less harmful to the ozone layer but still cause harm. Other solutions do not harm the ozone layer but some lead to more global warming. All countries are required to phase out HCFCs by 2030.

The correct answer is (A). During the Antarctic spring, rising temperatures in the atmosphere allow molecules to react with solar radiation and release Cl atoms which then break down ozone.

The correct answer is (D). Water vapor does not remain in the atmosphere for long before falling back to the Earth as precipitation.

The correct answer is (C). Increased carbon dioxide will lead to bicarbonate ions getting bound up by carbonic acid. Corals and shellfish require bicarbonate ions to build their shells and skeletons. pH will increase instead of decrease and ocean temperatures will likewise increase.