AP Environmental Science Practice Quiz: Ecosystem Services
Written by AP Content Team, Verified for 2026 AP Exams, Last updated: May 2026
Test your understanding with short quizzes. This quiz has 13 questions to check your progress.
Question 1 of 13
All Questions (13)
A) The economic costs associated with managing natural parks.
B) The benefits that humans receive from ecosystems.
C) Activities performed by humans to restore damaged environments.
D) The natural disruptions that occur within an ecosystem, such as wildfires.
Correct Answer: B
The content explicitly states that ecosystem services are the benefits humans receive from ecosystems. The other options describe costs, human actions, or natural disruptions, not the benefits themselves.
A) Provisioning
B) Regulating
C) Supporting
D) Economic
Correct Answer: D
The content lists the four categories of ecosystem services as provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting. 'Economic' is mentioned as a type of consequence from disruption, not a category of service.
A) Ecological
B) Provisioning
C) Anthropogenic
D) Cultural
Correct Answer: C
The text specifies that 'Anthropogenic activities can disrupt ecosystem services.' This term refers to activities originating from human actions.
A) Social and political
B) Provisioning and supporting
C) Short-term and long-term
D) Economic and ecological
Correct Answer: D
The content clearly states that disrupting ecosystem services can result in 'economic and ecological consequences.'
A) The creation of a new cultural ecosystem service.
B) A disruption of ecosystem services with potential consequences.
C) An enhancement of the ecosystem's regulating services.
D) A purely beneficial economic activity with no ecological impact.
Correct Answer: B
The clearing of a forest is an anthropogenic activity. The text states that such activities can disrupt ecosystem services, leading to potential economic and ecological consequences.
A) Ecosystems provide four types of services, which are immune to human impact.
B) Human actions can negatively affect the benefits provided by ecosystems, leading to significant problems.
C) Economic consequences are the only significant result of disrupting ecosystem services.
D) Supporting and provisioning services are the only categories affected by anthropogenic activities.
Correct Answer: B
This statement correctly summarizes the core idea: human (anthropogenic) activities can disrupt the services (benefits) from ecosystems, which in turn leads to negative economic and ecological consequences (problems).
A) ways humans disrupt ecosystems.
B) types of economic consequences from pollution.
C) benefits that ecosystems provide to humans.
D) stages of ecological succession.
Correct Answer: C
The text defines ecosystem services as 'benefits' and then lists the four categories. Therefore, the categories are a way of classifying these different benefits.
A) an enhancement of provisioning services.
B) a disruption of regulating services leading to ecological consequences.
C) a positive cultural service resulting from economic growth.
D) a natural fluctuation in supporting services.
Correct Answer: B
This scenario represents an anthropogenic activity (industrial expansion) causing negative ecological outcomes (poor water/air quality). This aligns with the concept of disrupting ecosystem services (in this case, regulating services like water and air purification) and facing ecological consequences.
A) Cultural services and economic consequences.
B) Anthropogenic activities and the disruption of ecosystem services.
C) Supporting services and provisioning services.
D) Ecological consequences and cultural services.
Correct Answer: B
The content explicitly states, 'Anthropogenic activities can disrupt ecosystem services,' establishing a direct causal link between human actions and the disruption of these services.
A) a supporting service.
B) an ecological consequence.
C) an economic consequence of disrupting a cultural service.
D) a successful provisioning service.
Correct Answer: C
The natural beauty that attracts tourism is a cultural service. The loss of revenue due to its disruption (pollution) is an economic consequence, as described in the text.
A) Provisioning, Regulating, Economic, Ecological
B) Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural, Supporting
C) Anthropogenic, Cultural, Supporting, Regulating
D) Economic, Ecological, Cultural, Supporting
Correct Answer: B
This is a direct recall question. The text explicitly lists the four categories as provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting.
A) A factory releasing pollutants into a river.
B) A volcanic eruption covering a wide area with ash.
C) Converting a wetland into a shopping mall.
D) Overfishing a specific population of fish in the ocean.
Correct Answer: B
The text focuses on 'anthropogenic' (human-caused) disruptions. A volcanic eruption is a natural event, not a human activity, and therefore falls outside the scope of the disruptions described.
A) only the provisioning services of an ecosystem.
B) that economic consequences are unavoidable and should be ignored.
C) the potential for human activities to cause negative ecological and economic outcomes by disrupting ecosystem services.
D) that cultural and supporting services are less critical than regulating services.
Correct Answer: C
This is an inference question based on the entire text. The core message is that human activities have consequences on the services ecosystems provide. Therefore, any sustainable approach must account for this relationship to avoid negative outcomes.