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 coarsest soil - with particles 0.05 -2.0 mm in diameter.






2. 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.






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






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






5. 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.






6. 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






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






8. A fiscal policy that lowers taxes on income - including wages and profit - and raises taxes on consumption - particularly the unsustainable consumption of non-renewable resources.






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






10. Pertaining to factors or things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving.






11. The industry or occupation devoted to the catching - processing - or selling of fish - shellfish - or other aquatic animals.






12. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






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






14. An introduced - normative species.






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






16. 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






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






18. The movement of individuals into a population.






19. The day-to-day variations in temperature - air pressure - wind - humidity - and precipitation mediated by the atmosphere in a given region.






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






21. When mature trees are cut over a period of time (usually10 -20 years); this leaves mature trees - which can reseed the forest - in place.






22. 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.






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






24. The low-rainfall region that exists on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range. This rain shadow is the result of the mountain range's causing precipitation on the windward side.






25. The removal of all of the trees in an area.






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






27. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels - especially coal.






28. When grass is consumed by animals at a faster rate than it can regrow.






29. The removal of trees for agricultural purposes or purposes of exportation.






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






31. 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.






32. A usually triangular alluvial deposit at the mouth of a river.






33. 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.






34. The fraction of solar energy that is reflected back into space.






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






36. Any waste that poses a danger to human health; it must be dealt with in a different way from other types of waste.






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






38. Nets that are dragged through the water and indiscriminately catch everything in their path.






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






40. A process in which rows of crops are plowed across the hillside; this prevents the erosion that can occur when rows are cut up and down on a slope. ...






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






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






43. Sunlight.






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






45. The day-to-day use of environmental resources as food - clothing - and housing.






46. The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber.






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






48. The result of graphing a dose-response analysis.






49. 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).






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