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






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






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






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






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






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






7. A usually triangular alluvial deposit at the mouth of a river.






8. Any waste that poses a danger to human health; it must be dealt with in a different way from other types of waste.






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






10. 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.






11. The movement of individuals into a population.






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






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






14. 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.






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






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. A waste product produced by the burning of coal.






18. The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.






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






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






21. The value of natural resources.






22. An animal that only consumes other animals.






23. A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.






24. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






25. Any compound that releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. Also - a water solution that contains a surplus of hydrogen ions.






26. The use of devices - such as solar panels - to collect - focus - transport - or store solar energy.






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






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






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






30. Living or derived from living things.






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. 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.






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






34. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






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






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






37. The unit used to describe the volume of fossil fuels.






38. The low-rainfall region that exists on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range. This rain shadow is the result of the mountain range's causing precipitation on the windward side.






39. The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.






40. The fraction of solar energy that is reflected back into space.






41. In tectonic plates - the site at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a continental plate.






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






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






44. The second-purest form of coal.






45. The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to disappear.






46. The gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body - especially the one surrounding the Earth - which is retained by the celestial body's gravitational field.






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






48. In a sewage treatment plant - the initial filtration that is done to remove debris such as stones - sticks - rags - toys - and other objects that were flushed down the toilet.






49. The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.






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