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 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.






2. 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.






3. Any substance than is inhaled - ingested - or absorbed at dosages sufficient to damage a living organism.






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






5. An organism such as a bacterium or protozoan - that obtains its nourishment through the oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds - as opposed to photosynthesis.






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






7. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






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






9. Pollutants that are released directly into the lower atmosphere.






10. 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.






11. 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.






12. The day-to-day variations in temperature - air pressure - wind - humidity - and precipitation mediated by the atmosphere in a given region.






13. The observed effect of the Coriolis force - especially the deflection of an object moving above the Earth - rightward in the Northern Hemisphere - and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere.






14. A specific location from which pollution is released; an example of a point source location is a factory where wood is being burned.






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






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






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






18. A process in which cold - often nutrient-rich - waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.






19. 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.






20. 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.






21. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of about 1 -000 -2 -000 m3 per person.






22. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






23. When one species feeds on another.






24. When the energy released from waste incineration is used to generate electricity.






25. 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.






26. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






27. 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.






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






29. A climate variation that takes place in the tropical Pacific about every three to seven years - for a duration of about one year.






30. The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.






31. 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






32. To convert or change into a vapor.






33. 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.






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






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






36. 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.






37. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






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






39. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms die from a toxin.






40. 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.






41. 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.






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






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






44. Soil with particles 0.002 -0.05 mm in diameter.






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






46. Involves the sinking of shafts to reach underground deposits. In this type of mining - networks of tunnels are dug or blasted and humans enter these tunnels in order to manually retrieve the coal.






47. A basic substance; chemically - a substance that absorbs hydrogen ions or releases hydroxyl ions; in reference to natural water - a measure of the base content of the water.






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






49. A high-speed - meandering wind current - generally moving from a westerly direction at speeds often exceeding 400 km (250 miles) per hour at altitudes of 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 miles).






50. Sunlight.