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 value of natural resources.






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






3. When physically treated sewage water is passed into a settling tank - where suspended solids settle out as sludge; chemically treated polymers may be added to help the suspended solids separate and settle out.






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






5. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






6. The process of burning.






7. An erosion-resistant marine ridge or mound consisting chiefly of compacted coral together with algal material and biochemically deposited magnesium and calcium carbonates.






8. 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.






9. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






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






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






12. 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.






13. 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.






14. 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.






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






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






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






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






19. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






28. 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.






29. The observed effect of the Coriolis force - especially the deflection of an object moving above the Earth - rightward in the Northern Hemisphere - and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere.






30. Power generated using water.






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






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






33. 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.






34. 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. ...






35. 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.






36. The broad category under which selective cutting and shelter-wood cutting fall; selective deforestation.






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






38. Open or forested areas built at the outer edge of a city.






39. The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources in a region.






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






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






42. Organisms that derive energy from consuming nonliving organic matter.






43. A place where a large quantity of a resource sits for a long period of time.






44. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms show a negative effect from a toxin.






45. Gave the EPA power to set emission standards for major sources of noise - including transportation - machinery - and construction.






46. 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.






47. Bacteria or fungi that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic matter like plant material - the wastes of living organisms - and corpses. They convert these materials into inorganic forms.






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






49. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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