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






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






3. 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.






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






5. 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.






6. The removal of select trees in an area; this leaves the majority of the habitat in place and has less of an impact on the ecosystem.






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






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






9. An opening in the Earth's crust through which molten lava - ash - and gases are ejected.






10. The process of burning.






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






12. Urban areas that heat up more quickly and retain heat more than do nonurban areas.






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






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






15. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






16. A layer of soil.






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






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






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. Fires that typically burn only the forest's underbrush and do little damage to mature trees. Surface fires actually serve to protect the forest from more harmful fires by removing underbrush and dead materials that would burn quickly and at high temp






21. A system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and subtropical regions and creating major weather patterns.






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






23. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






25. The movement of individuals into a population.






26. 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.






27. A high-speed - meandering wind current - generally moving from a westerly direction at speeds often exceeding 400 km (250 miles) per hour at altitudes of 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 miles).






28. 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.






29. A process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil - often as fertilizer.






30. The condition in which - at ecosystem boundaries - there is greater species diversity and biological density than there is in the heart of ecological communities.






31. 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.






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






33. The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.






34. When a species occupies a smaller niche than it would in the absence of competition.






35. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of less than 1 -000 m3 per person.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






43. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






44. The least pure coal.






45. Refers to resources - such as plants and animals - which can be regenerated if harvested at sustainable yields.






46. 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).






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






48. 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.






49. A group of modern windmills.






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