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






2. 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.






3. The amount that the population would grow if there were unlimited resources in its environment.






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






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






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






7. 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.






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






9. The A layer of soil is often referred to as topsoil and is most important for plant growth.






10. A group of modern windmills.






11. 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.






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






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






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






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






16. The process of fusing two nuclei.






17. The edges of tectonic plates.






18. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






19. 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. ...






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






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






22. 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.






23. Any substance than is inhaled - ingested - or absorbed at dosages sufficient to damage a living organism.






24. Also known as plantations - these are planted and managed tracts of trees of the same age that are harvested for commercial use.






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






26. 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.






27. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






28. 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.






29. Radioactive wastes that produce low levels of ionizing radiation.






30. Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals and resulting in the development of new species.






31. A succession of organisms in an ecological community that constitutes a continuation of food energy from one organism to another as each consumes a lower member and - in turn - is preyed upon by a higher member.






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






33. 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






34. A soil horizon; the layer below the O layer is called the A layer. The A layer is formed of weathered rock - with some organic material; often referred to as topsoil.






35. The value of natural resources.






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






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






38. 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.






39. Occurs when infection causes a change in the state of health.






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






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






42. 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.






43. A platinum - coated device that oxidizes most of the VOCs and some of the CO that would otherwise be emitted in exhaust - converting them to CO2.






44. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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






46. A long - relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland-built up by the action of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast from erosion by surf and tidal surges.






47. Non-moving sources of pollution - such as factories.






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






49. The second-purest form of coal.






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