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 process in which soil becomes saltier and saltier until - finally - the salt prevents the growth of plants. Salinization is caused by irrigation because salts brought in with the water remain in the soil as water evaporates.






2. 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.






3. Organisms that consume primary consumers.






4. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels - especially coal.






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






6. When materials - such as plastic or aluminum - are used to rebuild the same product. An example of this is the use of the aluminum from aluminum cans to produce more aluminum cans.






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






8. A symbiotic relationship in which one member is helped by the association and the other is harmed.






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






10. 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.






11. A process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil - often as fertilizer.






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






13. The cleanest-burning coal; almost pure carbon.






14. 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.






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






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. A layer of soil.






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






19. The point at which 50 percent of the test organisms die from a toxin.






20. The outermost shell of the atmosphere - between the mesosphere and outer space - where temperatures increase steadily with altitude.






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






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






23. The least pure coal.






24. A process in which rows of crops are plowed across the hillside; this prevents the erosion that can occur when rows are cut up and down on a slope. ...






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






26. When mature trees are cut over a period of time (usually10 -20 years); this leaves mature trees - which can reseed the forest - in place.






27. When an area of vegetation is cut down and burned before being planted with crops.






28. The molten core of the Earth.






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






30. Biotic and abiotic natural ecosystems.






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






32. Poor nutrition that results from an insufficient or poorly balanced diet.






33. Involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.






34. 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.






35. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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






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






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






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






40. 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.






41. A hydrocarbon that forms as sediments are buried and pressurized.






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






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






44. The amount of sugar that the plants produce in photosynthesis and subtracting from it the amount of energy the plants need for growth maintenance - repair - and reproduction.






45. An animal that only consumes other animals.






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






47. The energy of motion.






48. The result of a pathogen invading a body.






49. A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America - occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.






50. The practice of alternating the crops grown on a piece of land - for example - corn one year - legumes for two years - and then back to corn.