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 process in which plants absorb ammonium (NH3) - ammonia ions (NH4+) - and nitrate ions (NO3) through their roots.






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






3. The third purest form of coal.






4. 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.






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






6. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






7. Organisms that reproduce early in life and often and have a high capacity for reproductive growth.






8. A layer of soil.






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






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






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






12. 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.






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






14. Devices containing alkaline substances that precipitate out much of the sulfur dioxide from industrial plants.






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






16. The region draining into river system or other body of water.






17. Nets that are dragged through the water and indiscriminately catch everything in their path.






18. The finest soil - made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in diameter.






19. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






20. 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.






21. Living or derived from living things.






22. Refers to when farmers plant seeds without using a plow to turn the soil.






23. An organism that must obtain food energy from secondary sources - for example - by eating plant or animal matter.






24. 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.






25. The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.






26. The movement of individuals out of a population.






27. Transition in species composition of a biological community - often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in any area virtually barren of life.






28. 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. ...






29. 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.






30. 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.






31. Any water that has been used by humans. This includes human sewage - water drained from showers - tubs - sinks - dishwashers - washing machines - water from industrial processes - and storm water runoff.






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






33. The amount of the Earth's surface that's necessary to supply the needs of - and dispose of the waste from a particular population.






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






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






36. An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.






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






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






39. 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.






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






41. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






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






43. A hydrocarbon deposit - such as petroleum - coal - or natural gas - derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.






44. States that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.






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






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






47. The use of devices - such as solar panels - to collect - focus - transport - or store solar energy.






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






49. The process of soil particles being carried away by wind or water. Erosion moves the smaller particles first and hence degrades the soil to a coarser - sandier - stonier texture.






50. 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.