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 complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.






2. The rocks and Earth that is removed when mining for a commercially valuable mineral resource.






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






4. An organism that obtains organic food molecules without eating other organisms or substances derived from other organisms. autotrophs use energy from the sun or from the oxidation of inorganic substances to make organic molecules from inorganic ones.






5. The condition in which - at ecosystem boundaries - there is greater species diversity and biological density than there is in the heart of ecological communities.






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






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






8. An organism such as a bacterium or protozoan - that obtains its nourishment through the oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds - as opposed to photosynthesis.






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






10. The observed effect of the Coriolis force - especially the deflection of an object moving above the Earth - rightward in the Northern Hemisphere - and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere.






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






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






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






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






15. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






16. A semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy.






17. 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.






18. 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.






19. The place where two plates abut each other.






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






21. The edges of tectonic plates.






22. The removal of select trees in an area; this leaves the majority of the habitat in place and has less of an impact on the ecosystem.






23. 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






24. Living or derived from living things.






25. The removal of trees for agricultural purposes or purposes of exportation.






26. Is the practice of planting bands of different crops across a hillside.






27. A specific location from which pollution is released; an example of a point source location is a factory where wood is being burned.






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






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






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






31. When the signs and symptoms of an illness can be attributed to a specific infectious organism that resides in the building.






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






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






34. The raising of fish and other aquatic species in captivity for harvest.






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






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






37. The third purest form of coal.






38. Open or forested areas built at the outer edge of a city.






39. Bacteria - virus - or other microorganisms that can cause disease.






40. 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






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






42. 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.






43. The liquid that percolates to the bottom of a landfill.






44. 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.






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






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






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






48. The day-to-day use of environmental resources as food - clothing - and housing.






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






50. Using strategies to reduce the amount of risk (the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen).