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 each family in a community grows crops for themselves and rely on animal and human labor to plant and harvest crops.






2. Is equal to the number of deaths per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






3. The place where two plates abut each other.






4. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






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






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






7. A model that's used to predict population trends based on the birth and death rates as well as economic status of a population.






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






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






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






11. Non-moving sources of pollution - such as factories.






12. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






13. The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.






14. 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.






15. 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).






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






17. Drilling a hole in the ground that's below the water table to hold waste.






18. The result of vibrations (often due to plate movements) deep in the Earth that release energy. They often occur as two plates slide past one another at a transform boundary.






19. A stable - mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.






20. The phenomenon whereby the Earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation - caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide - water vapor - and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through - but absorb heat radiated back fr






21. The practice of alternating the crops grown on a piece of land - for example - corn one year - legumes for two years - and then back to corn.






22. An organism such as a bacterium or protozoan - that obtains its nourishment through the oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds - as opposed to photosynthesis.






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






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






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






26. An animal that only consumes other animals.






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






28. 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.






29. A process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil - often as fertilizer.






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






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






32. The second-purest form of coal.






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






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






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






36. The process of burning.






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






38. 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.






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






40. When one species feeds on another.






41. 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.






42. A layer of soil.






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






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






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






46. Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.






47. The industry or occupation devoted to the catching - processing - or selling of fish - shellfish - or other aquatic animals.






48. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






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






50. The low-rainfall region that exists on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range. This rain shadow is the result of the mountain range's causing precipitation on the windward side.