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






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






3. 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.






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






5. 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.






6. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






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






8. Any compound that releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. Also - a water solution that contains a surplus of hydrogen ions.






9. A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.






10. The day-to-day use of environmental resources as food - clothing - and housing.






11. The capacity to do work.






12. Is equal to the number of deaths per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






13. The biological treatment of wastewater in order to continue to remove biodegradable waste.






14. A layer in a large body of water - such as a lake - that sharply separates regions differing in temperature - so that the temperature gradient across the layer is abrupt.






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






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






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






18. A group of modern windmills.






19. 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.






20. A cyclonic storm having winds ranging from approximately 48 to 121 km (30 to 75 miles) per hour.






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






22. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






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






24. The region draining into river system or other body of water.






25. 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.






26. The second-purest form of coal.






27. 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.






28. The more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal directions over the Earth's surface - as part of Hadley cells.






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






30. The molten core of the Earth.






31. 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.






32. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core.






33. 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.






34. The movement of individuals out of a population.






35. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






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






37. The gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body - especially the one surrounding the Earth - which is retained by the celestial body's gravitational field.






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






39. 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






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






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






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






43. The industry or occupation devoted to the catching - processing - or selling of fish - shellfish - or other aquatic animals.






44. The number of live births per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






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






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






47. 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






48. 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.






49. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.






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