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. 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.






2. A climate variation that takes place in the tropical Pacific about every three to seven years - for a duration of about one year.






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






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






5. When one species feeds on another.






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






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 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.






9. 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.






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






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






12. Any other species of fish - mammals - or birds that are caught that are not the target organism.






13. A tank filled with aerobic bacteria that's used to treat sewage.






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






15. Occurs when infection causes a change in the state of health.






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






17. Creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface - which reduces soil runoff from the slope.






18. 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.






19. The total sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.






20. The second-purest form of coal.






21. 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.






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






23. Urban areas that heat up more quickly and retain heat more than do nonurban areas.






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






25. When the signs and symptoms of an illness can be attributed to a specific infectious organism that resides in the building.






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






27. 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.






28. The energy of motion.






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






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






31. Using strategies to reduce the amount of risk (the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen).






32. Pollution that does not have a specific point of release - open -loop recycling -when materials are reused to form new products.






33. 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.






34. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






35. An intensification of the Greenhouse Effect due to the increased presence of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.






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






37. The capacity to do work.






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






39. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






40. A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.






41. A hydrocarbon that forms as sediments are buried and pressurized.






42. The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica (and to some extent - over the Arctic).






43. The third purest form of coal.






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






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






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






47. Power generated using water.






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






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






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