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






2. Organisms that reproduce early in life and often and have a high capacity for reproductive growth.






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






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






5. A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean - traveling north - northwest - or northeast from its point of origin - and usually involving heavy rains.






6. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






7. One that has never been cut; these forests have not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.






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






9. The process of burning.






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






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






12. 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.






13. The process in which soil bacteria convert ammonium (NH4+) to a form that can be used by plants; nitrate - or NO3.






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






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






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






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






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






19. When photochemical smog - NOx compounds - VOCs - and ozone combine to form smog with a brownish hue.






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






21. Piles of gangue - which is the waste material that results from mining.






22. The least pure coal.






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






24. When one species feeds on another.






25. The amount of the Earth's surface that's necessary to supply the needs of - and dispose of the waste from a particular population.






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






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






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






29. The third purest form of coal.






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






31. An estimate of the amount of fossil fuel that can be obtained from reserve.






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






33. A succession of organisms in an ecological community that constitutes a continuation of food energy from one organism to another as each consumes a lower member and - in turn - is preyed upon by a higher member.






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






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






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






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






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






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






40. An organism that is capable of converting radiant energy or chemical energy into carbohydrates.






41. Species that originate and live - or occur naturally - in an area or environment.






42. 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.






43. A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.






44. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






45. 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






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






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






48. When physically treated sewage water is passed into a settling tank - where suspended solids settle out as sludge; chemically treated polymers may be added to help the suspended solids separate and settle out.






49. 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.






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