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 soil horizon; the layer below the O layer is called the A layer. The A layer is formed of weathered rock - with some organic material; often referred to as topsoil.






2. The total sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.






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






4. The part of the Earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life.






5. 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.






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






7. Power generated using water.






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






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






10. The vertical movement of a mass of matter due to heating and cooling; this can happen in both the atmosphere and Earth's mantle.






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






12. Species that originate and live - or occur naturally - in an area or environment.






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






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






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






16. The edges of tectonic plates.






17. Any noise that causes stress or has the potential to damage human health.






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






19. The movement of individuals out of a population.






20. The process in which plants absorb ammonium (NH3) - ammonia ions (NH4+) - and nitrate ions (NO3) through their roots.






21. 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.






22. The movement of individuals into a population.






23. 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).






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






25. Resources that are often formed by very slow geologic processes - so we consider them incapable of being regenerated within the realm of human existence.






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






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






28. Non-moving sources of pollution - such as factories.






29. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






30. The cultivation of a single crop on a farm or in a region or country; a single - homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension.






31. 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.






32. 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.






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






34. An erosion-resistant marine ridge or mound consisting chiefly of compacted coral together with algal material and biochemically deposited magnesium and calcium carbonates.






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






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






37. Organisms that are capable of interbreeding with one another and incapable of breeding with other species.






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






39. The process of fusing two nuclei.






40. To convert or change into a vapor.






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






42. Also known as plantations - these are planted and managed tracts of trees of the same age that are harvested for commercial use.






43. The number of live births per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






44. 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.






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






46. The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.






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






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






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






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