AP® Environmental Science Content Quiz Question Bank – Unit 2

Contains a total of 65 questions covering each section of the unit

Sample Questions (Answer Key Included With Purchase)

2.7 Ecological Succession
Content Quiz
Directions: Choose the BEST answer choice for each question.

1. When does primary succession occur?
   a. After a forest fire.
   b. When a farmer’s field is abandoned.
   c. With bare rock or no fertile soil.
   d. After a minor flood.
2. What are the pioneer species in primary succession?
   a. Grasses and herbaceous plants.
   b. Trees and shrubs.
   c. Lichen and mosses.
   d. Frogs and amphibians.
3. When does secondary succession occur?
   a. After a glacier recession.
   b. After a volcanic eruption.
   c. After a fire.
   d. With bare rock or no fertile soil.
4. What are the pioneer species in secondary succession?
   a. Grasses and herbaceous plants.
   b. Lichen and mosses.
   c. Trees and shrubs.
   d. Frogs and amphibians.
5. What is a keystone species in an ecosystem?
   a. A species that is the largest in the ecosystem.
   b. A species that is found in the highest abundance.
   c. A species with a particularly significant role in determining community structure.
   d. A species that is a recent arrival in the ecosystem and outcompetes the native
   species.
6. What is an indicator species?
   a. A species that is very rare in an ecosystem and therefore indicates how migratory
   patterns occur.
   b. A species that is a top predator and shows how energy is passed through trophic
   levels.
   c. A species that indicates the age of an ecosystem.
   d. A species that, by its presence or absence, shows something about the ecosystem’s
   condition.
7. Which of these is an example of an indicator species.
   a. Tigers in a rainforest.
   b. Frogs in an aquatic ecosystem.
   c. Trees in a desert.
   d. Sharks in the kelp forest.
8. What do pioneer members of early successional species do over time in a new area?
   a.They remain unchanged.
   b. They adapt to the conditions and eventually go extinct.
   c. They move to a different ecosystem when their job is over.
   d. They adapt to the conditions, potentially leading to speciation.
9. How do scientists determine if an area undergoing succession has reached its climax
   community?
   a. They count species in the disturbed ecosystem and compare it to an undisturbed
   ecosystem.
   b. They measure the temperature and humidity.
   c. They count the number of animals present to create a trophic pyramid of energy.
   d. They observe the weather patterns to determine if normal weather patterns have re-
   established.
10. What does succession in a disturbed ecosystem affect over time?
    a. The net productivity of the ecosystem.
    b. The average temperature.
    c. The size of the keystone species population.
    d. The number of primary consumers.

11. Use the picture above to answer. Which roman numeral represents pioneer species in
primary succession?
a. II
b. III
c. IV
d. VII

12. Use the picture above to answer. Which roman number represents pioneer species in
    secondary succession?

a. I
b. II
c. III
d. VII

13. Use the picture above to answer. Which roman numeral represents a climax community?
    a. I
    b. III
    c. IV
    d. VII
14. Use the graph below to answer:

What does this graph indicate about conifer species? (Conifers are a type of tree).
a. Conifers grow in shady conditions.
b. Conifers grow in sunny conditions.
c. Conifers prefer shade but will grow in sunny areas.
d. Conifers are the most negatively impacted by wildfire.

Description

The purpose of these content quizzes is as a homework or notes check. Students often copy reading
guides or do not pay attention to video notes but will pay more attention when they have a quiz.
I use these questions by assigning about 10 pages of reading along with supplemental videos on
Edpuzzle as homework. Students take a content quiz during the first few minutes of class. My
quizzes are open note/open book, but timed at 30 seconds per question as I do not expect students
to memorize information the first time they read or hear it so they can reference notes/books as
needed, but the timer prevents kids from “winging it” and not reading or doing notes.

I typically cover several topics in a quiz so I will take the best questions from each topic and combine
them into a 12-15 question quiz, but you can use them as-is below. Some topics have 10+ questions
while others are shorter. There are a total of 65 questions for this unit.

These are DOK1 and DOK2 questions that only check for content. Use AP® Classroom questions for
higher level questions to train students how to use the content in skill questions. AP® Classroom
does not provide enough questions per topic for basic content quizzes which is why I created this
product.

You are welcome to edit for your own classes, but do NOT upload to the internet or as a document
or PDF on an LMS (learning management system) as students often download documents and
answer keys and upload to cheating sites such as Course Hero.

If you would like to share with a colleague, be sure to buy an extra license to the product.

This product is not affiliated nor endorsed by the College Board.