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 degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.






2. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






3. In a sewage treatment plant - the initial filtration that is done to remove debris such as stones - sticks - rags - toys - and other objects that were flushed down the toilet.






4. A climate variation that takes place in the tropical Pacific about every three to seven years - for a duration of about one year.






5. A plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other.






6. When the size of an organism's natural habitat is reduced - or when development occurs that isolates a habitat.






7. A high-speed - meandering wind current - generally moving from a westerly direction at speeds often exceeding 400 km (250 miles) per hour at altitudes of 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 miles).






8. The third purest form of coal.






9. When populations are well below the size dictated by the carrying capacity of the region they live in - they will grow exponentially - but as they approach the carrying capacity - their growth rate will decrease and the size of the population will ev






10. The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds - such as ammonia - by natural agencies or various industrial processes.






11. The process in which plants absorb ammonium (NH3) - ammonia ions (NH4+) - and nitrate ions (NO3) through their roots.






12. A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.






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






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






15. Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.






16. An estimate of the amount of fossil fuel that can be obtained from reserve.






17. To convert or change into a vapor.






18. The phenomenon whereby the Earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation - caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide - water vapor - and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through - but absorb heat radiated back fr






19. States that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.






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






21. Fish farming in which fish are caught in the wild and not raised in captivity for consumption.






22. The process in which animals (and plants!) breathe and give off carbon dioxide from cellular metabolism.






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






24. One that has never been cut; these forests have not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.






25. The atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to the periodic warming of El Nino and cooling of La Nina.






26. A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America - occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.






27. A process in which cold - often nutrient-rich - waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.






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






29. A bloom of dinoflagellates that causes reddish discoloration of coastal ocean waters. Certain dinoflagellates of the genus Gonyamfox produce toxins that kill fish and contaminate shellfish.






30. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






31. Piles of gangue - which is the waste material that results from mining.






32. The broad category under which selective cutting and shelter-wood cutting fall; selective deforestation.






33. The cultivation of a single crop on a farm or in a region or country; a single - homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension.






34. Organisms that consume secondary consumers or other tertiary consumers.






35. When one species feeds on another.






36. An effect that results from long -term exposure to low levels of toxin.






37. In fishing - the use of long lines that have baited hooks and will be taken by numerous aquatic organisms.






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






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






40. When the majority of a building's occupants experience certain symptoms that vary with the amount of time spent in the building.






41. The water from which a river rises; a source.






42. 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).






43. 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.






44. A specific location from which pollution is released; an example of a point source location is a factory where wood is being burned.






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






46. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






47. A lowland area - such as a marsh or swamp - that is saturated with moisture - especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife.






48. The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.






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






50. The rocks and Earth that is removed when mining for a commercially valuable mineral resource.