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. The process in which soil bacteria convert ammonium (NH4+) to a form that can be used by plants; nitrate - or NO3.






2. 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.






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






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






5. 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






6. 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






7. A long - relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland-built up by the action of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast from erosion by surf and tidal surges.






8. The capacity to do work.






9. The gradual breakdown of rock into smaller and smaller particles - caused by natural chemical - physical - and biological factors.






10. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






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






12. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.






13. The third purest form of coal.






14. The random fluctuations in the frequency of the appearance of a gene in a small isolated population - presumably owing to chance - rather than natural selection.






15. The atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to the periodic warming of El Nino and cooling of La Nina.






16. 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.






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






18. 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. ...






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






20. The result of vibrations (often due to plate movements) deep in the Earth that release energy. They often occur as two plates slide past one another at a transform boundary.






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






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






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






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






25. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






26. The second-purest form of coal.






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






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






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






30. When water rights are given to those who have historically used the water in a certain area.






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






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






33. Is equal to the number of deaths per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






34. The movement of individuals out of a population.






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






36. Areas where cutting has occurred and a new - younger forest has arisen.






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






38. The least pure coal.






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






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






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






42. 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.






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






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






45. 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.






46. A fiscal policy that lowers taxes on income - including wages and profit - and raises taxes on consumption - particularly the unsustainable consumption of non-renewable resources.






47. The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber.






48. The observed effect of the Coriolis force - especially the deflection of an object moving above the Earth - rightward in the Northern Hemisphere - and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere.






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






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