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Test your basic knowledge |
AP Environmental Science
Start Test
Study First
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 soil bacteria convert ammonium (NH4+) to a form that can be used by plants; nitrate - or NO3.
nitrification
convection currents
R horizon
aquifer
2. A plate boundary at which plates are moving away from each other. This causes an upwelling of magma from the mantle to cool and form new crust.
hydroelectric power
mantle
land degradation
divergent boundary
3. The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica (and to some extent - over the Arctic).
ozone holes
shelter-wood cutting
solid waste
gray smog (industrial smog)
4. A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.
biotic potential
photosynthesis
food web
underground mining
5. Fires that typically burn only the forest's underbrush and do little damage to mature trees. Surface fires actually serve to protect the forest from more harmful fires by removing underbrush and dead materials that would burn quickly and at high temp
Green Revolution
age-structure pyramids
surface fires
mineral deposit
6. When companies are allowed to buy permits that allow them a certain amount of discharge of substances into certain environmental outlets. If they can reduce their amount of discharge - they are allowed to sell the remaining portion of their permit to
extinction
consumer
total fertility rate
market permits
7. A long - relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland-built up by the action of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast from erosion by surf and tidal surges.
ED50
LD50
proven reserve
barrier island
8. The capacity to do work.
water-scarce
riparian right
energy
fossil fuel
9. The gradual breakdown of rock into smaller and smaller particles - caused by natural chemical - physical - and biological factors.
weathering
bituminous
stationary sources
hurricane (typhoon - cyclone)
10. Energy at rest - or stored energy.
species
potential energy
reservoir
secondary treatment
11. Urban areas that heat up more quickly and retain heat more than do nonurban areas.
heat islands
tailings
clear-cutting
population density
12. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.
strip mining
low-level radioactive waste
terracing
ED50
13. The third purest form of coal.
subbituminous
water-scarce
renewable resources
high-level radioactive waste
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.
sand
genetic drift
point source pollution
by-catch
15. The atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to the periodic warming of El Nino and cooling of La Nina.
global warming
realized niche
potential energy
Southern Oscillation
16. 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.
fishery
physical treatmen
El Nino
total fertility rate
17. The broad category under which selective cutting and shelter-wood cutting fall; selective deforestation.
prior appropriation
capture fisheries
fly ash
Uneven-aged management
18. 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. ...
contour farming
delta
population
Aquaculture
19. An organism such as a bacterium or protozoan - that obtains its nourishment through the oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds - as opposed to photosynthesis.
photovoltaic cell (PV cell)
genetic drift
denitrification
chemotroph (chemoautotroph)
20. 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.
earthquake
extinction
by-catch
chronic effect
21. The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources in a region.
watershed
no-till
biotic potential
carrying capacity
22. The coarsest soil - with particles 0.05 -2.0 mm in diameter.
consumption
sand
fossil fuel
photochemical smog
23. The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to disappear.
reservoir
population
Aquaculture
Half-life
24. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.
k-selected
lithosphere
tailings
community
25. Organisms that consume primary consumers.
secondary consumers
logistic population growth
clear-cutting
fission
26. The second-purest form of coal.
nonrenewable resources
habitat fragmentation
bituminous
Uneven-aged management
27. The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NOy NO2 - and N2 and release it back to the atmosphere.
fossil fuel
mineral deposit
fishery
denitrification
28. A fishing technique in which the ocean floor is literally scraped by heavy nets that smash everything in their path.
bottom trawling
hydroelectric power
loamy
parasitism
29. Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.
biological weathering
Hadley cell
gray smog (industrial smog)
emigration
30. When water rights are given to those who have historically used the water in a certain area.
primary succession
silt
no-till
prior appropriation
31. The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.
ecological succession
acid
bituminous
habitat
32. Any process that breaks rock down into smaller pieces without changing the chemistry of the rock; typically wind and water.
clay
physical (mechanical) weathering
nitrogen fixation
tree farms
33. Is equal to the number of deaths per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.
mantle
U.S. Noise Control Act
R horizon
death rate (crude death rate)
34. The movement of individuals out of a population.
shelter-wood cutting
thermosphere
transform boundary
emigration
35. Pollutants that are released directly into the lower atmosphere.
arable
primary pollutants
chemotroph (chemoautotroph)
gray smog (industrial smog)
36. Areas where cutting has occurred and a new - younger forest has arisen.
mineral deposit
r-selected
evaporation
second growth forests
37. A plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other.
Superfund Program
convergent boundary
secondary consumers
B layer
38. The least pure coal.
respiration
parasitism
lignite
overgrazed
39. Each of the feeding levels in a food chain.
closed-loop recycling
producer
trophic level
respiration
40. Fish farming in which fish are caught in the wild and not raised in captivity for consumption.
non-point source pollution
subbituminous
capture fisheries
composting
41. An intensification of the Greenhouse Effect due to the increased presence of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
point source pollution
sick building syndrome
global warming
anthracite
42. 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.
secondary consumers
bituminous
rain shadow
omnivores
43. The management or regulation of a resource so that its use does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate itself.
active collection
conservation
proven reserve
convergent boundary
44. The degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.
carrying capacity
clear-cutting
tailings
toxicity
45. 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.
arable
intercropping (also called strip cropping)
evolution
underground mining
46. 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.
acid
risk assessment
threshold dose
green tax
47. The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber.
silviculture
death rate (crude death rate)
ecological footprint
primary treatment
48. 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.
Coriolis effect
arable
crop rotation
hydroelectric power
49. Any compound that releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. Also - a water solution that contains a surplus of hydrogen ions.
invasive species
denitrification
overburden
acid
50. Pollution that does not have a specific point of release - open -loop recycling -when materials are reused to form new products.
biotic
primary succession
non-point source pollution
chronic effect