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 use of building materials - building placement - and design to passively collect solar energy that can be used to keep a building warm or cool.






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






3. A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America - occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.






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






5. 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.






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






7. 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.






8. The structure obtained if we organize the amount of energy contained in producers and consumers in an ecosystem by kilocalories per square meter - from largest to smallest.






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






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






11. The movement of individuals out of a population.






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






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






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






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






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






17. Any substance than is inhaled - ingested - or absorbed at dosages sufficient to damage a living organism.






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






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






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






21. A process in which cold - often nutrient-rich - waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.






22. Urban areas that heat up more quickly and retain heat more than do nonurban areas.






23. When materials - such as plastic or aluminum - are used to rebuild the same product. An example of this is the use of the aluminum from aluminum cans to produce more aluminum cans.






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






25. The biological treatment of wastewater in order to continue to remove biodegradable waste.






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






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






28. The capacity to do work.






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






30. The maintenance of a species or ecosystem in order to ensure their perpetuation - with no concern as to their potential monetary value






31. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms show a negative effect from a toxin.






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






33. The carrier organism through which pathogens can attack.






34. A layer in a large body of water - such as a lake - that sharply separates regions differing in temperature - so that the temperature gradient across the layer is abrupt.






35. The process in which soil bacteria convert ammonium (NH4+) to a form that can be used by plants; nitrate - or NO3.






36. A process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil - often as fertilizer.






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






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






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






40. The edges of tectonic plates.






41. An intensification of the Greenhouse Effect due to the increased presence of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.






42. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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






44. An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.






45. The cleanest-burning coal; almost pure carbon.






46. 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.






47. 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.






48. 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.






49. The random fluctuations in the frequency of the appearance of a gene in a small isolated population - presumably owing to chance - rather than natural selection.






50. Acid rain - acid hail - acid snow; all of which occur as a result of pollution in the atmosphere.