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






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. The movement of individuals into a population.






4. 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.






5. 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.






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






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






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






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






10. 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.






11. A place where a large quantity of a resource sits for a long period of time.






12. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






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






14. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






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






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






17. The capacity to do work.






18. A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.






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






20. 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.






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






22. An introduced - normative species.






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






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






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






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






27. The number of children a couple must have in order to replace themselves in a population.






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






29. Refers to resources - such as plants and animals - which can be regenerated if harvested at sustainable yields.






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






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






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






33. When grass is consumed by animals at a faster rate than it can regrow.






34. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.






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






36. A system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and subtropical regions and creating major weather patterns.






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






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






39. Drilling a hole in the ground that's below the water table to hold waste.






40. The coarsest soil - with particles 0.05 -2.0 mm in diameter.






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






42. 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.






43. 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






44. The water from which a river rises; a source.






45. 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.






46. The region draining into river system or other body of water.






47. 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.






48. The process that occurs when two different species in a region compete and the better adapted species wins.






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






50. 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.