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. A model that's used to predict population trends based on the birth and death rates as well as economic status of a population.






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. When a species occupies a smaller niche than it would in the absence of competition.






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






5. 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.






6. A plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other.






7. 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






8. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






9. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






10. The raising of fish and other aquatic species in captivity for harvest.






11. The outermost shell of the atmosphere - between the mesosphere and outer space - where temperatures increase steadily with altitude.






12. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






13. 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.






14. 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.






15. The process of fusing two nuclei.






16. States that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.






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






18. 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).






19. Radioactive wastes that produce low levels of ionizing radiation.






20. A layer of soil.






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






22. The amount of sugar that the plants produce in photosynthesis and subtracting from it the amount of energy the plants need for growth maintenance - repair - and reproduction.






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






24. When mature trees are cut over a period of time (usually10 -20 years); this leaves mature trees - which can reseed the forest - in place.






25. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






26. 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.






27. The atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to the periodic warming of El Nino and cooling of La Nina.






28. 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.






29. When soil becomes water-logged and then dries out - and salt forms a layer on its surface.






30. The edges of tectonic plates.






31. This category includes organisms that consume producers (plants and algae).






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






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






34. The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds - such as ammonia - by natural agencies or various industrial processes.






35. 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.






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






37. The dosage level of a toxin at which a negative effect occurs.






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






39. A process in which rows of crops are plowed across the hillside; this prevents the erosion that can occur when rows are cut up and down on a slope. ...






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






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






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






43. When populations are well below the size dictated by the carrying capacity of the region they live in - they will grow exponentially - but as they approach the carrying capacity - their growth rate will decrease and the size of the population will ev






44. Organisms that derive energy from consuming nonliving organic matter.






45. The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica (and to some extent - over the Arctic).






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






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






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






49. Land that's fit to be cultivated.






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