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






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






3. An organism that is capable of converting radiant energy or chemical energy into carbohydrates.






4. A stable - mature community in a successive series that has reached equilibrium after having evolved through stages and adapted to its environment.






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






6. Species that originate and live - or occur naturally - in an area or environment.






7. When populations are well below the size dictated by the carrying capacity of the region they live in - they will grow exponentially - but as they approach the carrying capacity - their growth rate will decrease and the size of the population will ev






8. Power generated using water.






9. The molten core of the Earth.






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






11. The uppermost horizon of soil. It is primarily made up of organic material - including waste from organisms - the bodies of decomposing organisms - and live organisms.






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






13. The degree to which a substance is biologically harmful.






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






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






16. A region of the ocean near the equator - characterized by calms - light winds - or squalls.






17. Nets that are dragged through the water and indiscriminately catch everything in their path.






18. Living or derived from living things.






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






20. A layer of soil.






21. 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.






22. Pollution that does not have a specific point of release - open -loop recycling -when materials are reused to form new products.






23. Organisms in the first stages of succession.






24. The movement of individuals out of a population.






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






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






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






28. The number of live births per 1 -000 members of the population in a year.






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






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






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






32. The gradual breakdown of rock into smaller and smaller particles - caused by natural chemical - physical - and biological factors.






33. Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.






34. Formed from populations of different species occupying the same geographic area.






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






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






37. 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.






38. Soil with particles 0.002 -0.05 mm in diameter.






39. The rocks and Earth that is removed when mining for a commercially valuable mineral resource.






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






41. A tank filled with aerobic bacteria that's used to treat sewage.






42. The process of fusing two nuclei.






43. 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.






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






45. 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.






46. The edges of tectonic plates.






47. A waste product produced by the burning of coal.






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






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






50. When ecological succession begins in a virtually lifeless area - such as the area behind a moving glacier.