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. Drilling a hole in the ground that's below the water table to hold waste.






2. The uppermost horizon of soil. It is primarily made up of organic material - including waste from organisms - the bodies of decomposing organisms - and live organisms.






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






4. The number of children a couple must have in order to replace themselves in a population.






5. The process of burning.






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






7. 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.






8. The movement of individuals out of a population.






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






10. An organism that is capable of converting radiant energy or chemical energy into carbohydrates.






11. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






12. 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






13. 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.






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






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






16. Also known as transform faults - boundaries at which plates are moving past each other - sideways.






17. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






18. The effect caused by a short exposure to a high level of toxin.






19. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






20. The movement of individuals into a population.






21. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core.






22. 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).






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






24. The process in which animals (and plants!) breathe and give off carbon dioxide from cellular metabolism.






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






26. The process in which plants absorb ammonium (NH3) - ammonia ions (NH4+) - and nitrate ions (NO3) through their roots.






27. The least pure coal.






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






29. 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.






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






31. Pertaining to factors or things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving.






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






33. 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.






34. The vertical movement of a mass of matter due to heating and cooling; this can happen in both the atmosphere and Earth's mantle.






35. 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.






36. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of less than 1 -000 m3 per person.






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






38. Living or derived from living things.






39. 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.






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






41. The value of natural resources.






42. Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals and resulting in the development of new species.






43. States that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.






44. The removal of trees for agricultural purposes or purposes of exportation.






45. A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.






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






47. When ecological succession begins in a virtually lifeless area - such as the area behind a moving glacier.






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






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






50. In tectonic plates - the site at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a continental plate.