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 the size of an organism's natural habitat is reduced - or when development occurs that isolates a habitat.






2. 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).






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






4. A fishing technique in which the ocean floor is literally scraped by heavy nets that smash everything in their path.






5. A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystem's diversity and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.






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






7. A soil horizon; B receives the minerals and organic materials that are leached out of the A horizon.






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






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






10. The dark - crumbly - nutrient-rich material that results from the decomposition of organic material.






11. Also known as plantations - these are planted and managed tracts of trees of the same age that are harvested for commercial use.






12. The removal of select trees in an area; this leaves the majority of the habitat in place and has less of an impact on the ecosystem.






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






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






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






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






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






18. An area in which a particular mineral is concentrated - mining -the excavation of the Earth for the purpose of extracting ore or minerals.






19. A platinum - coated device that oxidizes most of the VOCs and some of the CO that would otherwise be emitted in exhaust - converting them to CO2.






20. 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.






21. A program funded by the federal government and a trust that's funded by taxes on chemicals; identifies pollutants and cleans up hazardous waste sites.






22. The capacity to do work.






23. Any noise that causes stress or has the potential to damage human health.






24. The process in which animals (and plants!) breathe and give off carbon dioxide from cellular metabolism.






25. The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.






26. 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






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






28. Any substance that has an LD50 - of 50 mg or less per kg of body weight.






29. 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.






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






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






32. Any other species of fish - mammals - or birds that are caught that are not the target organism.






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






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






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






36. The least pure coal.






37. The third purest form of coal.






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






39. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






40. Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.






41. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






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






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






44. 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.






45. The energy of motion.






46. Using strategies to reduce the amount of risk (the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen).






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






48. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






49. 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.






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