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 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.






2. Creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface - which reduces soil runoff from the slope.






3. A hydrocarbon deposit - such as petroleum - coal - or natural gas - derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.






4. A symbiotic relationship in which one member is helped by the association and the other is harmed.






5. An influential theory that concerns the long - term rate of conventional oil (and other fossil fuel) extraction and depletion. It predicts that future world oil production will soon reach a peak and then rapidly decline.






6. The molten core of the Earth.






7. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






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






10. When the signs and symptoms of an illness can be attributed to a specific infectious organism that resides in the building.






11. The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources in a region.






12. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






13. When the energy released from waste incineration is used to generate electricity.






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






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






16. The uppermost horizon of soil. It is primarily made up of organic material - including waste from organisms - the bodies of decomposing organisms - and live organisms.






17. A region of the ocean near the equator - characterized by calms - light winds - or squalls.






18. The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NOy NO2 - and N2 and release it back to the atmosphere.






19. Radioactive wastes that produce high levels of ionizing radiation.






20. The random fluctuations in the frequency of the appearance of a gene in a small isolated population - presumably owing to chance - rather than natural selection.






21. Land that's fit to be cultivated.






22. 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.






23. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






24. The raising of fish and other aquatic species in captivity for harvest.






25. Power generated using water.






26. An organism that must obtain food energy from secondary sources - for example - by eating plant or animal matter.






27. A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus - especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of uranium - splits into fragments - usually two fragments of comparable mass - releasing from 100 million to several hundred million electron volts of ener






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






29. Species that originate and live - or occur naturally - in an area or environment.






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






31. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels.






32. The process of burning.






33. 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.






34. The dosage level of a toxin at which a negative effect occurs.






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






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






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






38. An opening in the Earth's crust through which molten lava - ash - and gases are ejected.






39. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.






40. The vertical movement of a mass of matter due to heating and cooling; this can happen in both the atmosphere and Earth's mantle.






41. The result of chemical interaction with the bedrock that is typical of the action of both water and atmospheric gases.






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






43. The development and introduction of new varieties of (mainly) wheat and rice that has increased yields per acre dramatically in countries since the 1960s.






44. The movement of individuals out of a population.






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






46. Says that the entropy (disorder) of the universe is increasing. One corollary of the Second Law of thermodynamics is the concept that - in most energy transformations - a significant fraction of energy is lost to the universe as heat.






47. A group of modern windmills.






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






49. Fires that typically burn only the forest's underbrush and do little damage to mature trees. Surface fires actually serve to protect the forest from more harmful fires by removing underbrush and dead materials that would burn quickly and at high temp






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