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






2. Calculating risk - or the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen.






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






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






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






6. 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.






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






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






9. 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.






10. A model that's used to predict population trends based on the birth and death rates as well as economic status of a population.






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






12. 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






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






14. An introduced - normative species.






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






16. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core.






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






18. Formed from populations of different species occupying the same geographic area.






19. Pollutants that are formed by the combination of primary pollutants in the atmosphere.






20. Fish farming in which fish are caught in the wild and not raised in captivity for consumption.






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






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






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






24. To convert or change into a vapor.






25. A layer in a large body of water - such as a lake - that sharply separates regions differing in temperature - so that the temperature gradient across the layer is abrupt.






26. An area in which a particular mineral is concentrated - mining -the excavation of the Earth for the purpose of extracting ore or minerals.






27. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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. A stable - mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.






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






31. An intensification of the Greenhouse Effect due to the increased presence of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.






32. When photochemical smog - NOx compounds - VOCs - and ozone combine to form smog with a brownish hue.






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






34. 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.






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






36. The number of individuals of a population that inhabit a certain unit of land or water area.






37. A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.






38. 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.






39. Is equal to the number of deaths per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






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






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






42. 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.






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






44. The liquid that percolates to the bottom of a landfill.






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






46. Organisms that derive energy from consuming nonliving organic matter.






47. An underground layer of porous rock - sand - or other material that allows the movement of water between layers of nonporous rock or clay. Aquifers are frequently tapped for wells.






48. The process by which - according to Darwin's theory of evolution - only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations - while those less adap






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






50. 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.