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. 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).






2. 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.






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






4. Any process that breaks rock down into smaller pieces without changing the chemistry of the rock; typically wind and water.






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






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






7. The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NOy NO2 - and N2 and release it back to the atmosphere.






8. 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






9. A plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other.






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






11. The capacity to do work.






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






13. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






14. The liquid that percolates to the bottom of a landfill.






15. The outermost shell of the atmosphere - between the mesosphere and outer space - where temperatures increase steadily with altitude.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






23. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.






24. An organism that must obtain food energy from secondary sources - for example - by eating plant or animal matter.






25. The result of chemical interaction with the bedrock that is typical of the action of both water and atmospheric gases.






26. A layer of soil.






27. 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.






28. The removal of select trees in an area; this leaves the majority of the habitat in place and has less of an impact on the ecosystem.






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






30. A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean - traveling north - northwest - or northeast from its point of origin - and usually involving heavy rains.






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






32. Also known as plantations - these are planted and managed tracts of trees of the same age that are harvested for commercial use.






33. The least pure coal.






34. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.






35. The unit used to describe the volume of fossil fuels.






36. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






37. The second-purest form of coal.






38. An area in which a particular mineral is concentrated - mining -the excavation of the Earth for the purpose of extracting ore or minerals.






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






40. The process of burning.






41. 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. ...






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






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






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






45. Pollutants that are formed by the combination of primary pollutants in the atmosphere.






46. 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.






47. A high-speed - meandering wind current - generally moving from a westerly direction at speeds often exceeding 400 km (250 miles) per hour at altitudes of 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 miles).






48. 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






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






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