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






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






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






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






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






6. 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.






7. 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.






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






9. When one species feeds on another.






10. The number of children an average woman will bear during her lifetime; this information is based on an analysis of data from preceding years in the population in question.






11. The fraction of solar energy that is reflected back into space.






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






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






14. 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.






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






16. The capacity to do work.






17. Any substance that has an LD50 - of 50 mg or less per kg of body weight.






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






19. Resources that are often formed by very slow geologic processes - so we consider them incapable of being regenerated within the realm of human existence.






20. A process in which cold - often nutrient-rich - waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.






21. Air currents caused by the vertical movement of air due to atmospheric heating and cooling.






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






23. 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






24. The third purest form of coal.






25. The vertical movement of a mass of matter due to heating and cooling; this can happen in both the atmosphere and Earth's mantle.






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






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






28. The development and introduction of new varieties of (mainly) wheat and rice that has increased yields per acre dramatically in countries since the 1960s.






29. Sunlight.






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






31. 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.






32. The structure obtained if we organize the amount of energy contained in producers and consumers in an ecosystem by kilocalories per square meter - from largest to smallest.






33. An effect that results from long -term exposure to low levels of toxin.






34. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






35. The dark - crumbly - nutrient-rich material that results from the decomposition of organic material.






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






37. Land that's fit to be cultivated.






38. The right - as to fishing or to the use of a riverbed - of one who owns riparian land (the land adjacent to a river or stream).






39. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core.






40. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.






41. The degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.






42. Bacteria - virus - or other microorganisms that can cause disease.






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






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






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






46. Living or derived from living things.






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






48. In a sewage treatment plant - the initial filtration that is done to remove debris such as stones - sticks - rags - toys - and other objects that were flushed down the toilet.






49. The movement of individuals out of a population.






50. A soil horizon; B receives the minerals and organic materials that are leached out of the A horizon.