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






2. 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






3. Bacteria - virus - or other microorganisms that can cause disease.






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






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






6. When grass is consumed by animals at a faster rate than it can regrow.






7. Living or derived from living things.






8. The movement of individuals into a population.






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






10. 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






11. A waste product produced by the burning of coal.






12. 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.






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






14. A lowland area - such as a marsh or swamp - that is saturated with moisture - especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife.






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






16. The capacity to do work.






17. The day-to-day variations in temperature - air pressure - wind - humidity - and precipitation mediated by the atmosphere in a given region.






18. A semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy.






19. The process of fusing two nuclei.






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






21. 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.






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






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






24. A cyclonic storm having winds ranging from approximately 48 to 121 km (30 to 75 miles) per hour.






25. 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.






26. An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.






27. 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.






28. 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.






29. Sunlight.






30. 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.






31. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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






33. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






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






35. The energy of motion.






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






37. The dosage level of a toxin at which a negative effect occurs.






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






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






40. A region of the ocean near the equator - characterized by calms - light winds - or squalls.






41. A method of supplying irrigation water through tubes that literally drip water onto the soil at the base of each plant.






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






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






44. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






45. 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.






46. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






47. Radioactive wastes that produce low levels of ionizing radiation.






48. An introduced - normative species.






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






50. The raising of fish and other aquatic species in captivity for harvest.