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. 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.






2. An erosion-resistant marine ridge or mound consisting chiefly of compacted coral together with algal material and biochemically deposited magnesium and calcium carbonates.






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






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. 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.






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






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






9. The cleanest-burning coal; almost pure carbon.






10. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






11. 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.






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






13. Can consist of hazardous waste - industrial solid waste - or municipal waste. Many types of solid waste provide a threat to human health and the environment.






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






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






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






17. The process of fusing two nuclei.






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






19. Fires that typically burn only the forest's underbrush and do little damage to mature trees. Surface fires actually serve to protect the forest from more harmful fires by removing underbrush and dead materials that would burn quickly and at high temp






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






21. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






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






23. 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).






24. The phenomenon whereby the Earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation - caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide - water vapor - and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through - but absorb heat radiated back fr






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






26. Sunlight.






27. Also known as transform faults - boundaries at which plates are moving past each other - sideways.






28. Refers to when farmers plant seeds without using a plow to turn the soil.






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






30. Pertaining to factors or things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving.






31. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






33. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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






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






36. Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.






37. Any substance that has an LD50 - of 50 mg or less per kg of body weight.






38. The second-purest form of coal.






39. A process in which rows of crops are plowed across the hillside; this prevents the erosion that can occur when rows are cut up and down on a slope. ...






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






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






42. The process of burning.






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






44. The removal of all of the trees in an area.






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






46. A soil horizon - horizon C is made up of larger pieces of rock that have not undergone much weathering.






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






48. 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.






49. The removal of select trees in an area; this leaves the majority of the habitat in place and has less of an impact on the ecosystem.






50. Organisms that reproduce early in life and often and have a high capacity for reproductive growth.