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






2. 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).






3. An animal that only consumes other animals.






4. The least pure coal.






5. 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.






6. The energy of motion.






7. An opening in the Earth's crust through which molten lava - ash - and gases are ejected.






8. The process of fusing two nuclei.






9. When mature trees are cut over a period of time (usually10 -20 years); this leaves mature trees - which can reseed the forest - in place.






10. The fraction of solar energy that is reflected back into space.






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






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






13. 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.






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






15. An effect that results from long -term exposure to low levels of toxin.






16. 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.






17. The water from which a river rises; a source.






18. 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.






19. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






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






21. An estimate of the amount of fossil fuel that can be obtained from reserve.






22. A layer in a large body of water - such as a lake - that sharply separates regions differing in temperature - so that the temperature gradient across the layer is abrupt.






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






24. The biological treatment of wastewater in order to continue to remove biodegradable waste.






25. The rocks and Earth that is removed when mining for a commercially valuable mineral resource.






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






27. The third purest form of coal.






28. The part of the Earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life.






29. A bloom of dinoflagellates that causes reddish discoloration of coastal ocean waters. Certain dinoflagellates of the genus Gonyamfox produce toxins that kill fish and contaminate shellfish.






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






31. A climate variation that takes place in the tropical Pacific about every three to seven years - for a duration of about one year.






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






33. The process of burning.






34. 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.






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






36. An intensification of the Greenhouse Effect due to the increased presence of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.






37. 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.






38. A plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other.






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






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






41. A tank filled with aerobic bacteria that's used to treat sewage.






42. A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean - traveling north - northwest - or northeast from its point of origin - and usually involving heavy rains.






43. 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.






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






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






47. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.






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






49. A layer of soil.






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