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. 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.






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






3. Areas where cutting has occurred and a new - younger forest has arisen.






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






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






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






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






8. A region of the ocean near the equator - characterized by calms - light winds - or squalls.






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






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






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






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






13. The day-to-day variations in temperature - air pressure - wind - humidity - and precipitation mediated by the atmosphere in a given region.






14. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






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






16. 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.






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






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






19. Graphical representations of populations' ages.






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






21. An area in which a particular mineral is concentrated - mining -the excavation of the Earth for the purpose of extracting ore or minerals.






22. The amount of the Earth's surface that's necessary to supply the needs of - and dispose of the waste from a particular population.






23. The second-purest form of coal.






24. Living or derived from living things.






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






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






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






28. The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber.






29. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






30. The process of fusing two nuclei.






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






32. 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.






33. Says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed.






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






35. Any other species of fish - mammals - or birds that are caught that are not the target organism.






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






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






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






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






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






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






42. The edges of tectonic plates.






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






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






45. A bloom of dinoflagellates that causes reddish discoloration of coastal ocean waters. Certain dinoflagellates of the genus Gonyamfox produce toxins that kill fish and contaminate shellfish.






46. The movement of individuals out of a population.






47. 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.






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






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






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