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






2. The edges of tectonic plates.






3. The number of individuals of a population that inhabit a certain unit of land or water area.






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






5. A stable - mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.






6. 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).






7. A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus - especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of uranium - splits into fragments - usually two fragments of comparable mass - releasing from 100 million to several hundred million electron volts of ener






8. The coarsest soil - with particles 0.05 -2.0 mm in diameter.






9. 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.






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






11. 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.






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






13. To convert or change into a vapor.






14. When photochemical smog - NOx compounds - VOCs - and ozone combine to form smog with a brownish hue.






15. The place where two plates abut each other.






16. 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.






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






18. 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.






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






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






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






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






23. 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.






24. The day-to-day variations in temperature - air pressure - wind - humidity - and precipitation mediated by the atmosphere in a given region.






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






26. The result of graphing a dose-response analysis.






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






28. 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.






29. Involves the sinking of shafts to reach underground deposits. In this type of mining - networks of tunnels are dug or blasted and humans enter these tunnels in order to manually retrieve the coal.






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






31. The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds - such as ammonia - by natural agencies or various industrial processes.






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






33. When the energy released from waste incineration is used to generate electricity.






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






35. When populations are well below the size dictated by the carrying capacity of the region they live in - they will grow exponentially - but as they approach the carrying capacity - their growth rate will decrease and the size of the population will ev






36. The gradual breakdown of rock into smaller and smaller particles - caused by natural chemical - physical - and biological factors.






37. A system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and subtropical regions and creating major weather patterns.






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






39. This category includes organisms that consume producers (plants and algae).






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






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






42. A high-speed - meandering wind current - generally moving from a westerly direction at speeds often exceeding 400 km (250 miles) per hour at altitudes of 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 miles).






43. The amount that the population would grow if there were unlimited resources in its environment.






44. 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.






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






46. 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.






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






48. The capacity to do work.






49. Air currents caused by the vertical movement of air due to atmospheric heating and cooling.






50. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.