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






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






3. Radioactive wastes that produce high levels of ionizing radiation.






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






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






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






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






8. The maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources in a region.






9. A long - relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland-built up by the action of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast from erosion by surf and tidal surges.






10. Ozone that exists in the trophosphere.






11. Power generated using water.






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






13. The movement of individuals into a population.






14. 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. ...






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






16. A hydrocarbon deposit - such as petroleum - coal - or natural gas - derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.






17. In fishing - the use of long lines that have baited hooks and will be taken by numerous aquatic organisms.






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






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






20. A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystem's diversity and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.






21. When one species feeds on another.






22. The broad category under which selective cutting and shelter-wood cutting fall; selective deforestation.






23. Organisms that reproduce later in life - produce fewer offspring - and devote significant time and energy to the nurturing of their offspring.






24. 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.






25. 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.






26. The accumulation of a substance - such as a toxic chemical - in various tissues of a living organism.






27. 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.






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






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






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






31. A lowland area - such as a marsh or swamp - that is saturated with moisture - especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife.






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






33. 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.






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






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






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






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






38. 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.






39. The amount that the population would grow if there were unlimited resources in its environment.






40. An effect that results from long -term exposure to low levels of toxin.






41. The place where two plates abut each other.






42. 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






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






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






45. 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.






46. Nets that are dragged through the water and indiscriminately catch everything in their path.






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






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






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. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels - especially coal.