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 part of the Earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life.






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






3. Any substance that has an LD50 - of 50 mg or less per kg of body weight.






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






5. The energy of motion.






6. Organisms that derive energy from consuming nonliving organic matter.






7. 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.






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






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






10. The bedrock - which lies below all of the other layers of soil - is referred to as the R horizon.






11. 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.






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






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






14. When trees and crops are planted together - creating a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between them.






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






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






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






18. The phenomenon whereby the Earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation - caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide - water vapor - and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through - but absorb heat radiated back fr






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






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






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






22. Also known as plantations - these are planted and managed tracts of trees of the same age that are harvested for commercial use.






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






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






25. A method of supplying irrigation water through tubes that literally drip water onto the soil at the base of each plant.






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






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






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






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






30. Any noise that causes stress or has the potential to damage human health.






31. The edges of tectonic plates.






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






33. Energy at rest - or stored energy.






34. The atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to the periodic warming of El Nino and cooling of La Nina.






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






36. A hydrocarbon deposit - such as petroleum - coal - or natural gas - derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.






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






38. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






44. 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.






45. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






46. The outer part of the Earth - consisting of the crust and upper mantle - approximately 100 km (62 miles) thick.






47. An opening in the Earth's crust through which molten lava - ash - and gases are ejected.






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






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






50. 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.