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






2. Drilling a hole in the ground that's below the water table to hold waste.






3. To convert or change into a vapor.






4. The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to disappear.






5. 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.






6. 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.






7. 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.






8. A place where a large quantity of a resource sits for a long period of time.






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






10. The number of children a couple must have in order to replace themselves in a population.






11. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






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






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






14. An introduced - normative species.






15. A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America - occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.






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






17. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






18. 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.






19. Radioactive wastes that produce high levels of ionizing radiation.






20. Says that the entropy (disorder) of the universe is increasing. One corollary of the Second Law of thermodynamics is the concept that - in most energy transformations - a significant fraction of energy is lost to the universe as heat.






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






22. 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






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






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






25. The accumulation of a substance - such as a toxic chemical - in various tissues of a living organism.






26. The management or regulation of a resource so that its use does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate itself.






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






28. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






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






30. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of about 1 -000 -2 -000 m3 per person.






31. An animal that only consumes other animals.






32. A process in which an organism is exposed to a toxin at different concentrations - and the dosage that causes the death of the organism is recorded.






33. 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






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






35. 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.






36. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






37. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of less than 1 -000 m3 per person.






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






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






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






41. 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.






42. Soil composed of a mixture of sand - clay - silt - and organic matter.






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






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






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






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






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






48. 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.






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






50. When one species feeds on another.