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. A symbiotic relationship in which one member is helped by the association and the other is harmed.






2. The bedrock - which lies below all of the other layers of soil - is referred to as the R horizon.






3. 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






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






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






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






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






8. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






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






10. Refers to when farmers plant seeds without using a plow to turn the soil.






11. Living or derived from living things.






12. A method of supplying irrigation water through tubes that literally drip water onto the soil at the base of each plant.






13. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels - especially coal.






14. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of about 1 -000 -2 -000 m3 per person.






15. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






16. Organisms that are capable of interbreeding with one another and incapable of breeding with other species.






17. 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.






18. 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.






19. In fishing - the use of long lines that have baited hooks and will be taken by numerous aquatic organisms.






20. 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.






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






22. The movement of individuals into a population.






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






24. 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.






25. One that has never been cut; these forests have not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.






26. The solids that remain after the secondary treatment of sewage.






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






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






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






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






31. The number of live births per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






32. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






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






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






35. 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).






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






37. 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.






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






39. The process by which the concentration of toxic substances increases in each successive link in the food chain.






40. The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds - such as ammonia - by natural agencies or various industrial processes.






41. A program funded by the federal government and a trust that's funded by taxes on chemicals; identifies pollutants and cleans up hazardous waste sites.






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






43. A fishing technique in which the ocean floor is literally scraped by heavy nets that smash everything in their path.






44. Close - prolonged associations between two or more different organisms of different species that may - but do not necessarily benefit the members.






45. The molten core of the Earth.






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






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






48. 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.






49. The process of burning.






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