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 edges of tectonic plates.






2. When ecological succession begins in a virtually lifeless area - such as the area behind a moving glacier.






3. Any other species of fish - mammals - or birds that are caught that are not the target organism.






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






5. Any noise that causes stress or has the potential to damage human health.






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






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






8. 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.






9. A semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy.






10. The unit used to describe the volume of fossil fuels.






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






12. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






13. The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.






14. Bacteria - virus - or other microorganisms that can cause disease.






15. A process in which an organism is exposed to a toxin at different concentrations - and the dosage that causes the death of the organism is recorded.






16. An introduced - normative species.






17. When physically treated sewage water is passed into a settling tank - where suspended solids settle out as sludge; chemically treated polymers may be added to help the suspended solids separate and settle out.






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






19. When one species feeds on another.






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






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






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






23. 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.






24. The result of vibrations (often due to plate movements) deep in the Earth that release energy. They often occur as two plates slide past one another at a transform boundary.






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






26. 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.






27. Bacteria or fungi that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic matter like plant material - the wastes of living organisms - and corpses. They convert these materials into inorganic forms.






28. Also known as transform faults - boundaries at which plates are moving past each other - sideways.






29. 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.






30. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of less than 1 -000 m3 per person.






31. When companies are allowed to buy permits that allow them a certain amount of discharge of substances into certain environmental outlets. If they can reduce their amount of discharge - they are allowed to sell the remaining portion of their permit to






32. The gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body - especially the one surrounding the Earth - which is retained by the celestial body's gravitational field.






33. A basic substance; chemically - a substance that absorbs hydrogen ions or releases hydroxyl ions; in reference to natural water - a measure of the base content of the water.






34. The act or process of transpiring - or releasing water vapor - especially through the stomata of plant tissue or the pores of the skin.






35. Organisms that reproduce later in life - produce fewer offspring - and devote significant time and energy to the nurturing of their offspring.






36. The accumulation of a substance - such as a toxic chemical - in various tissues of a living organism.






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






38. Involves the sinking of shafts to reach underground deposits. In this type of mining - networks of tunnels are dug or blasted and humans enter these tunnels in order to manually retrieve the coal.






39. A hydrocarbon that forms as sediments are buried and pressurized.






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






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






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






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






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






45. The third purest form of coal.






46. The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.






47. 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.






48. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






49. The number of live births per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






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