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. 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.






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






3. Each of the feeding levels in a food chain.






4. One that has never been cut; these forests have not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.






5. Nets that are dragged through the water and indiscriminately catch everything in their path.






6. In a sewage treatment plant - the initial filtration that is done to remove debris such as stones - sticks - rags - toys - and other objects that were flushed down the toilet.






7. 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.






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






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






10. An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.






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






12. When soil becomes water-logged and then dries out - and salt forms a layer on its surface.






13. An organism such as a bacterium or protozoan - that obtains its nourishment through the oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds - as opposed to photosynthesis.






14. An organism that obtains organic food molecules without eating other organisms or substances derived from other organisms. autotrophs use energy from the sun or from the oxidation of inorganic substances to make organic molecules from inorganic ones.






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






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






17. The condition in which - at ecosystem boundaries - there is greater species diversity and biological density than there is in the heart of ecological communities.






18. The process by which specialized bacteria (mostly anaerobic bacteria) convert ammonia to NOy NO2 - and N2 and release it back to the atmosphere.






19. 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. ...






20. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.






21. 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.






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






23. The capacity to do work.






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






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






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






27. The result of chemical interaction with the bedrock that is typical of the action of both water and atmospheric gases.






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






29. 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.






30. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






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






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






33. A usually triangular alluvial deposit at the mouth of a river.






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






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






36. A region of the ocean near the equator - characterized by calms - light winds - or squalls.






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






38. An introduced - normative species.






39. Areas where cutting has occurred and a new - younger forest has arisen.






40. When trees and crops are planted together - creating a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between them.






41. 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.






42. Gave the EPA power to set emission standards for major sources of noise - including transportation - machinery - and construction.






43. The molten core of the Earth.






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






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






46. 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.






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






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






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






50. 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.