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






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






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






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






5. 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.






6. 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.






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






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






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






10. 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.






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






12. 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






13. When companies are allowed to buy permits that allow them a certain amount of discharge of substances into certain environmental outlets. If they can reduce their amount of discharge - they are allowed to sell the remaining portion of their permit to






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






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






16. 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.






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






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






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






20. A model that's used to predict population trends based on the birth and death rates as well as economic status of a population.






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






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






23. An underground layer of porous rock - sand - or other material that allows the movement of water between layers of nonporous rock or clay. Aquifers are frequently tapped for wells.






24. A climate variation that takes place in the tropical Pacific about every three to seven years - for a duration of about one year.






25. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






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






27. Refers to resources - such as plants and animals - which can be regenerated if harvested at sustainable yields.






28. The process of burning.






29. The finest soil - made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in diameter.






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






31. 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.






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






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






34. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






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






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






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






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






39. Calculating risk - or the degree of likelihood that a person will become ill upon exposure to a toxin or pathogen.






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






41. 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.






42. 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.






43. Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals and resulting in the development of new species.






44. The process by which - according to Darwin's theory of evolution - only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations - while those less adap






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






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






47. A program funded by the federal government and a trust that's funded by taxes on chemicals; identifies pollutants and cleans up hazardous waste sites.






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






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






50. Close - prolonged associations between two or more different organisms of different species that may - but do not necessarily benefit the members.