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 industry or occupation devoted to the catching - processing - or selling of fish - shellfish - or other aquatic animals.






2. 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.






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






4. A layer of soil.






5. Organisms that consume secondary consumers or other tertiary consumers.






6. Open or forested areas built at the outer edge of a city.






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






8. Acid rain - acid hail - acid snow; all of which occur as a result of pollution in the atmosphere.






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






10. 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






11. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






12. Species that originate and live - or occur naturally - in an area or environment.






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






14. 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.






15. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






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






17. The process that occurs when two different species in a region compete and the better adapted species wins.






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






19. The place where two plates abut each other.






20. 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






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






22. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels.






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






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






25. When one species feeds on another.






26. A soil horizon; the layer below the O layer is called the A layer. The A layer is formed of weathered rock - with some organic material; often referred to as topsoil.






27. The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.






28. When the signs and symptoms of an illness can be attributed to a specific infectious organism that resides in the building.






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






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






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






32. The process of burning.






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






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






35. 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.






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






37. The total sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.






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






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






40. 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.






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






42. 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.






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






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






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. Organisms that reproduce later in life - produce fewer offspring - and devote significant time and energy to the nurturing of their offspring.






47. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels - especially coal.






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






49. The second-purest form of coal.






50. 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.