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 practice of alternating the crops grown on a piece of land - for example - corn one year - legumes for two years - and then back to corn.






2. 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.






3. 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.






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






5. Occurs when infection causes a change in the state of health.






6. When materials - such as plastic or aluminum - are used to rebuild the same product. An example of this is the use of the aluminum from aluminum cans to produce more aluminum cans.






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






8. A system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and subtropical regions and creating major weather patterns.






9. Land that's fit to be cultivated.






10. 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.






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






12. The process of burning.






13. Power generated using water.






14. 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.






15. Bacteria or fungi that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic matter like plant material - the wastes of living organisms - and corpses. They convert these materials into inorganic forms.






16. Soil with particles 0.002 -0.05 mm in diameter.






17. The molten core of the Earth.






18. Says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed.






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






20. 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.






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






22. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms show a negative effect from a toxin.






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






24. 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.






25. Piles of gangue - which is the waste material that results from mining.






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






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






28. 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.






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






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






31. The energy of motion.






32. 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.






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






34. A specific location from which pollution is released; an example of a point source location is a factory where wood is being burned.






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






36. The finest soil - made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in diameter.






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






38. 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.






39. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






40. 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






41. The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.






42. A process in which cold - often nutrient-rich - waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.






43. 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.






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






45. 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.






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






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






48. Gave the EPA power to set emission standards for major sources of noise - including transportation - machinery - and construction.






49. Any substance than is inhaled - ingested - or absorbed at dosages sufficient to damage a living organism.






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