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 fraction of solar energy that is reflected back into space.






2. When ecological succession begins in a virtually lifeless area - such as the area behind a moving glacier.






3. The number of children a couple must have in order to replace themselves in a population.






4. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms die from a toxin.






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






6. 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.






7. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






8. The least pure coal.






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






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






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






13. The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber.






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






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






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






17. The gradual breakdown of rock into smaller and smaller particles - caused by natural chemical - physical - and biological factors.






18. One that has never been cut; these forests have not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.






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






20. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






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






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






23. The process in which soil becomes saltier and saltier until - finally - the salt prevents the growth of plants. Salinization is caused by irrigation because salts brought in with the water remain in the soil as water evaporates.






24. A region of the ocean near the equator - characterized by calms - light winds - or squalls.






25. 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.






26. 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.






27. 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.






28. A plate boundary at which plates are moving away from each other. This causes an upwelling of magma from the mantle to cool and form new crust.






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






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






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






32. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






33. The use of building materials - building placement - and design to passively collect solar energy that can be used to keep a building warm or cool.






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






35. 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.






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






37. A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.






38. A bloom of dinoflagellates that causes reddish discoloration of coastal ocean waters. Certain dinoflagellates of the genus Gonyamfox produce toxins that kill fish and contaminate shellfish.






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






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






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






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






43. A lowland area - such as a marsh or swamp - that is saturated with moisture - especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife.






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






45. The act or process of transpiring - or releasing water vapor - especially through the stomata of plant tissue or the pores of the skin.






46. Living or derived from living things.






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






48. 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.






49. 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






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