Test your basic knowledge |

AP Environmental Science

Subjects : science, ap
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The amount of the Earth's surface that's necessary to supply the needs of - and dispose of the waste from a particular population.






2. The value of natural resources.






3. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






4. A tank filled with aerobic bacteria that's used to treat sewage.






5. This category includes organisms that consume producers (plants and algae).






6. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






7. Soil composed of a mixture of sand - clay - silt - and organic matter.






8. Radioactive wastes that produce low levels of ionizing radiation.






9. The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica (and to some extent - over the Arctic).






10. The number of children an average woman will bear during her lifetime; this information is based on an analysis of data from preceding years in the population in question.






11. Urban areas that heat up more quickly and retain heat more than do nonurban areas.






12. A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystem's diversity and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.






13. The process that occurs when two different species in a region compete and the better adapted species wins.






14. Acid rain - acid hail - acid snow; all of which occur as a result of pollution in the atmosphere.






15. The management or regulation of a resource so that its use does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate itself.






16. Open or forested areas built at the outer edge of a city.






17. A cyclonic storm having winds ranging from approximately 48 to 121 km (30 to 75 miles) per hour.






18. An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.






19. When each family in a community grows crops for themselves and rely on animal and human labor to plant and harvest crops.






20. The amount of sugar that the plants produce in photosynthesis and subtracting from it the amount of energy the plants need for growth maintenance - repair - and reproduction.






21. When materials - such as plastic or aluminum - are used to rebuild the same product. An example of this is the use of the aluminum from aluminum cans to produce more aluminum cans.






22. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






23. Devices containing alkaline substances that precipitate out much of the sulfur dioxide from industrial plants.






24. Is equal to the number of deaths per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






25. When trees and crops are planted together - creating a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between them.






26. The A layer of soil is often referred to as topsoil and is most important for plant growth.






27. The number of individuals of a population that inhabit a certain unit of land or water area.






28. The more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal directions over the Earth's surface - as part of Hadley cells.






29. The total sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.






30. When water rights are given to those who have historically used the water in a certain area.






31. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






32. The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to disappear.






33. A place where a large quantity of a resource sits for a long period of time.






34. The observed effect of the Coriolis force - especially the deflection of an object moving above the Earth - rightward in the Northern Hemisphere - and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere.






35. A fishing technique in which the ocean floor is literally scraped by heavy nets that smash everything in their path.






36. The amount of energy that plants pass on to the community of herbivores in an ecosystem.






37. Refers to when farmers plant seeds without using a plow to turn the soil.






38. Areas where cutting has occurred and a new - younger forest has arisen.






39. The right - as to fishing or to the use of a riverbed - of one who owns riparian land (the land adjacent to a river or stream).






40. Calculating risk - or the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen.






41. The outermost shell of the atmosphere - between the mesosphere and outer space - where temperatures increase steadily with altitude.






42. Air currents caused by the vertical movement of air due to atmospheric heating and cooling.






43. When soil becomes water-logged and then dries out - and salt forms a layer on its surface.






44. Living or derived from living things.






45. The finest soil - made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in diameter.






46. Using strategies to reduce the amount of risk (the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen).






47. An organism such as a bacterium or protozoan - that obtains its nourishment through the oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds - as opposed to photosynthesis.






48. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






49. The process in which soil bacteria convert ammonium (NH4+) to a form that can be used by plants; nitrate - or NO3.






50. The process by which the concentration of toxic substances increases in each successive link in the food chain.