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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. Any compound that releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. Also - a water solution that contains a surplus of hydrogen ions.
acid
respiration
symbiotic relationships
crop rotation
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.
closed-loop recycling
total fertility rate
strip mining
rain shadow
3. The removal of trees for agricultural purposes or purposes of exportation.
deforestation
producer
red tide
C layer
4. The process of burning.
replacement birth rate
combustion
risk management
market permits
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
second growth forests
natural selection
mutualism
crude oil
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.
competitive exclusion
hydroelectric power
Gross Primary Productivity
water-stressed
7. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.
erosion
asthenosphere
estuary
First Law of Thermodynamics
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.
omnivores
gray smog (industrial smog)
primary pollutants
food chain
9. Calculating risk - or the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen.
symbiotic relationships
fossil fuel
risk assessment
physical (mechanical) weathering
10. The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NOy NO2 - and N2 and release it back to the atmosphere.
LD50
crude oil
denitrification
biosphere
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.
photochemical smog
Green Revolution
fossil fuel
Gross Primary Productivity
12. The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources in a region.
toxicity
acid
carrying capacity
barrier island
13. The maintenance of a species or ecosystem in order to ensure their perpetuation - with no concern as to their potential monetary value
preservation
green tax
proven reserve
drip irrigation
14. The biological treatment of wastewater in order to continue to remove biodegradable waste.
gray smog (industrial smog)
land degradation
secondary treatment
aquifer
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.
food web
photosynthesis
Second Law of Thermodynamics
upwelling
16. The number of children a couple must have in order to replace themselves in a population.
replacement birth rate
natural resources
rain shadow
carrying capacity
17. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.
water-stressed
driftnets
El Nino
omnivores
18. The degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.
Coriolis effect
overgrazed
toxicity
population
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.
physical treatmen
asthenosphere
convergent boundary
nonrenewable resources
20. Any noise that causes stress or has the potential to damage human health.
water-scarce
barrels
evaporation
noise pollution
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.
clear-cutting
keystone species
plate boundaries
riparian right
22. A group of modern windmills.
biomagnifications
fishery
no-till
wind farm
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
water-scarce
logistic population growth
transpiration
subduction zone
24. When trees and crops are planted together - creating a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between them.
composting
agroforestry
driftnets
industrial smog (gray smog)
25. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels.
industrial smog (gray smog)
poison
tropospheric ozone
green tax
26. When the size of an organism's natural habitat is reduced - or when development occurs that isolates a habitat.
natural selection
habitat fragmentation
inner core
subduction zone
27. The broad category under which selective cutting and shelter-wood cutting fall; selective deforestation.
mantle
toxin
autotroph
Uneven-aged management
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.
erosion
Uneven-aged management
energy pyramid
industrial smog (gray smog)
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).
aquifer
riparian right
dose-response curve
heterotrophy
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
net Primary Productivity (NPP)
fault
fission
acute effect
31. Says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed.
First Law of Thermodynamics
food web
salinization
anthracite
32. Living or derived from living things.
biotic
hydroelectric power
vector
pioneer species
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.
leachate
mineral deposit
passive solar energy collection
weathering
34. Any substance than is inhaled - ingested - or absorbed at dosages sufficient to damage a living organism.
strip mining
toxin
atmosphere
population
35. Each of the feeding levels in a food chain.
age-structure pyramids
rain shadow
assimilation
trophic level
36. The amount of energy that plants pass on to the community of herbivores in an ecosystem.
primary consumers
terracing
net Primary Productivity (NPP)
market permits
37. Nets that are dragged through the water and indiscriminately catch everything in their path.
dose-response analysis
driftnets
tree farms
Superfund Program
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.
Southern Oscillation
erosion
potential energy
deforestation
39. Fish farming in which fish are caught in the wild and not raised in captivity for consumption.
no-till
lithosphere
capture fisheries
ecological footprint
40. Refers to resources - such as plants and animals - which can be regenerated if harvested at sustainable yields.
photochemical smog
ozone holes
renewable resources
tree farms
41. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.
heterotrophy
conservation
biotic potential
lithosphere
42. An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.
heterotrophy
R horizon
active collection
market permits
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.
secondary pollutants
shelter-wood cutting
U.S. Noise Control Act
species
44. In tectonic plates - the site at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a continental plate.
toxicity
overburden
drip irrigation
subduction zone
45. An estimate of the amount of fossil fuel that can be obtained from reserve.
O layer
proven reserve
rain shadow
deep well injection
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.
risk management
catalytic converter
green tax
petroleum
47. Organisms that reproduce later in life - produce fewer offspring - and devote significant time and energy to the nurturing of their offspring.
alkaline
k-selected
primary pollutants
realized niche
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.
contour farming
overburden
wastewater
autotroph
49. The outermost shell of the atmosphere - between the mesosphere and outer space - where temperatures increase steadily with altitude.
demographic transition model
thermosphere
carnivore
niche
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.
underground mining
indigenous species
surface fires
silviculture