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






2. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms show a negative effect from a toxin.






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






4. To convert or change into a vapor.






5. The third purest form of coal.






6. The use of devices - such as solar panels - to collect - focus - transport - or store solar energy.






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






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






9. Close - prolonged associations between two or more different organisms of different species that may - but do not necessarily benefit the members.






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






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






12. Creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface - which reduces soil runoff from the slope.






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






14. 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






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






16. The result of vibrations (often due to plate movements) deep in the Earth that release energy. They often occur as two plates slide past one another at a transform boundary.






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






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






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 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.






21. Power generated using water.






22. Calculating risk - or the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen.






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






24. The use of building materials - building placement - and design to passively collect solar energy that can be used to keep a building warm or cool.






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






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






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






28. A method of supplying irrigation water through tubes that literally drip water onto the soil at the base of each plant.






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. A plate boundary at which plates are moving away from each other. This causes an upwelling of magma from the mantle to cool and form new crust.






31. 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.






32. 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.






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






34. The A layer of soil is often referred to as topsoil and is most important for plant growth.






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






36. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






37. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






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






39. The bedrock - which lies below all of the other layers of soil - is referred to as the R horizon.






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






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






42. Sunlight.






43. Organisms that derive energy from consuming nonliving organic matter.






44. Resources that are often formed by very slow geologic processes - so we consider them incapable of being regenerated within the realm of human existence.






45. 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.






46. A semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy.






47. 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.






48. Organisms that are capable of interbreeding with one another and incapable of breeding with other species.






49. 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.






50. A process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil - often as fertilizer.