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 edges of tectonic plates.






2. 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.






3. When trees and crops are planted together - creating a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between them.






4. The low-rainfall region that exists on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range. This rain shadow is the result of the mountain range's causing precipitation on the windward side.






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






6. A stable - mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.






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






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






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






10. 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).






11. A waste product produced by the burning of coal.






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






13. Transition in species composition of a biological community - often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in any area virtually barren of life.






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






15. 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.






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






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






18. The act or process of transpiring - or releasing water vapor - especially through the stomata of plant tissue or the pores of the skin.






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






20. Pollution that does not have a specific point of release - open -loop recycling -when materials are reused to form new products.






21. Organisms that consume secondary consumers or other tertiary consumers.






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






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






24. Creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface - which reduces soil runoff from the slope.






25. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






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






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






28. 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.






29. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






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






32. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.






33. 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.






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






35. A semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy.






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






37. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






38. 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. ...






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






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






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






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






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






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






45. The movement of individuals into a population.






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






47. The degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.






48. The molten core of the Earth.






49. The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to disappear.






50. When one species feeds on another.