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






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






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






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






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






6. Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of about 1 -000 -2 -000 m3 per person.






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






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






9. The management or regulation of a resource so that its use does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate itself.






10. The more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal directions over the Earth's surface - as part of Hadley cells.






11. 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.






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






13. 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






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






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






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






17. A process in which an organism is exposed to a toxin at different concentrations - and the dosage that causes the death of the organism is recorded.






18. 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






19. Acid rain - acid hail - acid snow; all of which occur as a result of pollution in the atmosphere.






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






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






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






23. The result of graphing a dose-response analysis.






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






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






26. A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.






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






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






29. A platinum - coated device that oxidizes most of the VOCs and some of the CO that would otherwise be emitted in exhaust - converting them to CO2.






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






31. Land that's fit to be cultivated.






32. 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.






33. A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean - traveling north - northwest - or northeast from its point of origin - and usually involving heavy rains.






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






35. The third purest form of coal.






36. Involves the sinking of shafts to reach underground deposits. In this type of mining - networks of tunnels are dug or blasted and humans enter these tunnels in order to manually retrieve the coal.






37. 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.






38. The result of chemical interaction with the bedrock that is typical of the action of both water and atmospheric gases.






39. A soil horizon; the layer below the O layer is called the A layer. The A layer is formed of weathered rock - with some organic material; often referred to as topsoil.






40. A plate boundary at which plates are moving away from each other. This causes an upwelling of magma from the mantle to cool and form new crust.






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






42. 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.






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






44. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.






45. When each family in a community grows crops for themselves and rely on animal and human labor to plant and harvest crops.






46. A plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other.






47. 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.






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






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






50. 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.