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






2. An underground layer of porous rock - sand - or other material that allows the movement of water between layers of nonporous rock or clay. Aquifers are frequently tapped for wells.






3. 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.






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






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






6. Any waste that poses a danger to human health; it must be dealt with in a different way from other types of waste.






7. Organisms that consume both producers and primary consumers.






8. When soil becomes water-logged and then dries out - and salt forms a layer on its surface.






9. The amount of the Earth's surface that's necessary to supply the needs of - and dispose of the waste from a particular population.






10. 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






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






12. 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.






13. Formed from populations of different species occupying the same geographic area.






14. 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






15. 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.






16. Open or forested areas built at the outer edge of a city.






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






18. The process in which soil becomes saltier and saltier until - finally - the salt prevents the growth of plants. Salinization is caused by irrigation because salts brought in with the water remain in the soil as water evaporates.






19. A basic substance; chemically - a substance that absorbs hydrogen ions or releases hydroxyl ions; in reference to natural water - a measure of the base content of the water.






20. The process of burning.






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






22. 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






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






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






25. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






26. A soil horizon - horizon C is made up of larger pieces of rock that have not undergone much weathering.






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






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






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






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






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






32. An influential theory that concerns the long - term rate of conventional oil (and other fossil fuel) extraction and depletion. It predicts that future world oil production will soon reach a peak and then rapidly decline.






33. A stable - mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.






34. 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.






35. The day-to-day use of environmental resources as food - clothing - and housing.






36. The removal of all of the trees in an area.






37. The process of fusing two nuclei.






38. Sunlight.






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






40. The use of devices - such as solar panels - to collect - focus - transport - or store solar energy.






41. The coarsest soil - with particles 0.05 -2.0 mm in diameter.






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






43. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






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






46. The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.






47. Pollutants that are released directly into the lower atmosphere.






48. Soil composed of a mixture of sand - clay - silt - and organic matter.






49. 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.






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