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 act or process of transpiring - or releasing water vapor - especially through the stomata of plant tissue or the pores of the skin.






2. The dark - crumbly - nutrient-rich material that results from the decomposition of organic material.






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 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.






5. The molten core of the Earth.






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






7. When the majority of a building's occupants experience certain symptoms that vary with the amount of time spent in the building.






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






9. A hydrocarbon that forms as sediments are buried and pressurized.






10. Is the practice of planting bands of different crops across a hillside.






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






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






13. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






14. 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.






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






16. 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.






17. 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






18. The number of children an average woman will bear during her lifetime; this information is based on an analysis of data from preceding years in the population in question.






19. The cultivation of a single crop on a farm or in a region or country; a single - homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension.






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






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






22. 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.






23. 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.






24. Any other species of fish - mammals - or birds that are caught that are not the target organism.






25. The place where two plates abut each other.






26. An introduced - normative species.






27. The right - as to fishing or to the use of a riverbed - of one who owns riparian land (the land adjacent to a river or stream).






28. Any water that has been used by humans. This includes human sewage - water drained from showers - tubs - sinks - dishwashers - washing machines - water from industrial processes - and storm water runoff.






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






30. Transition in species composition of a biological community - often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in any area virtually barren of life.






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






32. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






33. The movement of individuals out of a population.






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






35. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






36. The process of burning.






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






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






39. 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.






40. The maintenance of a species or ecosystem in order to ensure their perpetuation - with no concern as to their potential monetary value






41. A hydrocarbon deposit - such as petroleum - coal - or natural gas - derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.






42. The development and introduction of new varieties of (mainly) wheat and rice that has increased yields per acre dramatically in countries since the 1960s.






43. 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.






44. Organisms that are capable of interbreeding with one another and incapable of breeding with other species.






45. The A layer of soil is often referred to as topsoil and is most important for plant growth.






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






47. 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).






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






49. Refers to resources - such as plants and animals - which can be regenerated if harvested at sustainable yields.






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