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






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






3. In tectonic plates - the site at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a continental plate.






4. 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.






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






6. 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.






7. 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.






8. The edges of tectonic plates.






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






10. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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.






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






18. Formed from populations of different species occupying the same geographic area.






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






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. 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.






22. The uppermost horizon of soil. It is primarily made up of organic material - including waste from organisms - the bodies of decomposing organisms - and live organisms.






23. 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.






24. The right - as to fishing or to the use of a riverbed - of one who owns riparian land (the land adjacent to a river or stream).






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






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






27. The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources in a region.






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






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






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






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






32. An organism that must obtain food energy from secondary sources - for example - by eating plant or animal matter.






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






34. When each family in a community grows crops for themselves and rely on animal and human labor to plant and harvest crops.






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






36. The place where two plates abut each other.






37. Fish farming in which fish are caught in the wild and not raised in captivity for consumption.






38. The process of burning.






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






40. The molten core of the Earth.






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






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






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






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






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






46. 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.






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






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






49. 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.






50. The number of children an average woman will bear during her lifetime; this information is based on an analysis of data from preceding years in the population in question.