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. 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






2. The movement of individuals into a population.






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






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






5. The degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.






6. The least pure coal.






7. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms show a negative effect from a toxin.






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






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






10. 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.






11. The edges of tectonic plates.






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






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






14. The bedrock - which lies below all of the other layers of soil - is referred to as the R horizon.






15. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.






16. 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.






17. In tectonic plates - the site at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a continental plate.






18. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






19. The effect caused by a short exposure to a high level of toxin.






20. 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.






21. 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.






22. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






23. The number of children a couple must have in order to replace themselves in a population.






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






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






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






27. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of about 1 -000 -2 -000 m3 per person.






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






29. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.






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






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






32. Pollutants that are released directly into the lower atmosphere.






33. A layer of soil.






34. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






35. An erosion-resistant marine ridge or mound consisting chiefly of compacted coral together with algal material and biochemically deposited magnesium and calcium carbonates.






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






37. Says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed.






38. A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean - traveling north - northwest - or northeast from its point of origin - and usually involving heavy rains.






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






40. The biological treatment of wastewater in order to continue to remove biodegradable waste.






41. The amount of the Earth's surface that's necessary to supply the needs of - and dispose of the waste from a particular population.






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






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






44. A method of supplying irrigation water through tubes that literally drip water onto the soil at the base of each plant.






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






46. Organisms that are capable of interbreeding with one another and incapable of breeding with other species.






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






48. 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.






49. Is the practice of planting bands of different crops across a hillside.






50. 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.