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 part of the Earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life.






2. Each of the feeding levels in a food chain.






3. When an area of vegetation is cut down and burned before being planted with crops.






4. The structure obtained if we organize the amount of energy contained in producers and consumers in an ecosystem by kilocalories per square meter - from largest to smallest.






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






6. Any process that breaks rock down into smaller pieces without changing the chemistry of the rock; typically wind and water.






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






8. The phenomenon whereby the Earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation - caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide - water vapor - and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through - but absorb heat radiated back fr






9. Can consist of hazardous waste - industrial solid waste - or municipal waste. Many types of solid waste provide a threat to human health and the environment.






10. The movement of individuals out of a population.






11. 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.






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






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






14. 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.






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






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






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






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






19. Drilling a hole in the ground that's below the water table to hold waste.






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






21. 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.






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






23. The second-purest form of coal.






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






25. A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus - especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of uranium - splits into fragments - usually two fragments of comparable mass - releasing from 100 million to several hundred million electron volts of ener






26. An organism that is capable of converting radiant energy or chemical energy into carbohydrates.






27. Areas where cutting has occurred and a new - younger forest has arisen.






28. A soil horizon - horizon C is made up of larger pieces of rock that have not undergone much weathering.






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






30. When the size of an organism's natural habitat is reduced - or when development occurs that isolates a habitat.






31. The process in which animals (and plants!) breathe and give off carbon dioxide from cellular metabolism.






32. The cultivation of a single crop on a farm or in a region or country; a single - homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension.






33. 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






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






35. 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. ...






36. 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.






37. The maintenance of a species or ecosystem in order to ensure their perpetuation - with no concern as to their potential monetary value






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






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






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






41. Acid rain - acid hail - acid snow; all of which occur as a result of pollution in the atmosphere.






42. A waste product produced by the burning of coal.






43. This category includes organisms that consume producers (plants and algae).






44. A tank filled with aerobic bacteria that's used to treat sewage.






45. A specific location from which pollution is released; an example of a point source location is a factory where wood is being burned.






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






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






48. In fishing - the use of long lines that have baited hooks and will be taken by numerous aquatic organisms.






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






50. A soil horizon; B receives the minerals and organic materials that are leached out of the A horizon.