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 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.






2. The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber.






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






4. 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






5. 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.






6. Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals and resulting in the development of new species.






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






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






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






10. Occurs when infection causes a change in the state of health.






11. Any waste that poses a danger to human health; it must be dealt with in a different way from other types of waste.






12. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






13. The total sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.






14. 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.






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






16. 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.






17. 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.






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






19. The removal of trees for agricultural purposes or purposes of exportation.






20. 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.






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






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






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






24. The value of natural resources.






25. When an area of vegetation is cut down and burned before being planted with crops.






26. Also known as transform faults - boundaries at which plates are moving past each other - sideways.






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






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






29. An opening in the Earth's crust through which molten lava - ash - and gases are ejected.






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






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






32. Is the practice of planting bands of different crops across a hillside.






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






34. When companies are allowed to buy permits that allow them a certain amount of discharge of substances into certain environmental outlets. If they can reduce their amount of discharge - they are allowed to sell the remaining portion of their permit to






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






36. The capacity to do work.






37. The effect caused by a short exposure to a high level of toxin.






38. The random fluctuations in the frequency of the appearance of a gene in a small isolated population - presumably owing to chance - rather than natural selection.






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






40. Any process that breaks rock down into smaller pieces without changing the chemistry of the rock; typically wind and water.






41. The solids that remain after the secondary treatment of sewage.






42. A lowland area - such as a marsh or swamp - that is saturated with moisture - especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife.






43. Soil composed of a mixture of sand - clay - silt - and organic matter.






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






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






46. The development and introduction of new varieties of (mainly) wheat and rice that has increased yields per acre dramatically in countries since the 1960s.






47. The cleanest-burning coal; almost pure carbon.






48. Devices containing alkaline substances that precipitate out much of the sulfur dioxide from industrial plants.






49. Power generated using water.






50. The removal of all of the trees in an area.