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. Any compound that releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. Also - a water solution that contains a surplus of hydrogen ions.






2. 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.






3. The removal of trees for agricultural purposes or purposes of exportation.






4. The process of burning.






5. The process by which - according to Darwin's theory of evolution - only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations - while those less adap






6. 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.






7. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.






8. 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.






9. Calculating risk - or the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen.






10. The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NOy NO2 - and N2 and release it back to the atmosphere.






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






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






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






14. The biological treatment of wastewater in order to continue to remove biodegradable waste.






15. Says that the entropy (disorder) of the universe is increasing. One corollary of the Second Law of thermodynamics is the concept that - in most energy transformations - a significant fraction of energy is lost to the universe as heat.






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






17. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






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






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






21. A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystem's diversity and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.






22. A group of modern windmills.






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. When trees and crops are planted together - creating a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between them.






25. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels.






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






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






28. 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.






29. 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).






30. A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus - especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of uranium - splits into fragments - usually two fragments of comparable mass - releasing from 100 million to several hundred million electron volts of ener






31. Says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed.






32. Living or derived from living things.






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






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






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






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






38. 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.






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






40. Refers to resources - such as plants and animals - which can be regenerated if harvested at sustainable yields.






41. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.






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






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






44. In tectonic plates - the site at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a continental plate.






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






46. 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.






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






48. 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.






49. The outermost shell of the atmosphere - between the mesosphere and outer space - where temperatures increase steadily with altitude.






50. Involves the sinking of shafts to reach underground deposits. In this type of mining - networks of tunnels are dug or blasted and humans enter these tunnels in order to manually retrieve the coal.