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






2. 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.






3. The more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal directions over the Earth's surface - as part of Hadley cells.






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






5. The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica (and to some extent - over the Arctic).






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






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






8. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






9. The effect caused by a short exposure to a high level of toxin.






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






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






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






13. Land that's fit to be cultivated.






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






15. An organism that obtains organic food molecules without eating other organisms or substances derived from other organisms. autotrophs use energy from the sun or from the oxidation of inorganic substances to make organic molecules from inorganic ones.






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






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






18. 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






19. A layer of soil.






20. The management or regulation of a resource so that its use does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate itself.






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






22. A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystem's diversity and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.






23. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






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






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






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






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






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






30. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






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






32. The capacity to do work.






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






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






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






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






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






38. The process of burning.






39. 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.






40. The cleanest-burning coal; almost pure carbon.






41. The amount of energy that plants pass on to the community of herbivores in an ecosystem.






42. The least pure coal.






43. The water from which a river rises; a source.






44. Any noise that causes stress or has the potential to damage human health.






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






46. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






47. 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.






48. Organisms that reproduce later in life - produce fewer offspring - and devote significant time and energy to the nurturing of their offspring.






49. 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






50. The number of live births per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.