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 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. ...






2. 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.






3. The right - as to fishing or to the use of a riverbed - of one who owns riparian land (the land adjacent to a river or stream).






4. When the majority of a building's occupants experience certain symptoms that vary with the amount of time spent in the building.






5. 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.






6. Smog resulting from emissions from industry and other sources of gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels.






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






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






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






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






11. Any other species of fish - mammals - or birds that are caught that are not the target organism.






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






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






14. 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.






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






16. Also known as transform faults - boundaries at which plates are moving past each other - sideways.






17. The day-to-day variations in temperature - air pressure - wind - humidity - and precipitation mediated by the atmosphere in a given region.






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






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






20. A long - relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland-built up by the action of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast from erosion by surf and tidal surges.






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






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






23. 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.






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






25. A process in which cold - often nutrient-rich - waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.






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






27. 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






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






29. One that has never been cut; these forests have not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.






30. Being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.






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






32. The form petroleum takes when in the ground.






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






34. The number of children an average woman will bear during her lifetime; this information is based on an analysis of data from preceding years in the population in question.






35. 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






36. Bacteria or fungi that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic matter like plant material - the wastes of living organisms - and corpses. They convert these materials into inorganic forms.






37. The liquid that percolates to the bottom of a landfill.






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






39. When a species occupies a smaller niche than it would in the absence of competition.






40. The low-rainfall region that exists on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range. This rain shadow is the result of the mountain range's causing precipitation on the windward side.






41. 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.






42. The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica (and to some extent - over the Arctic).






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






44. The use of building materials - building placement - and design to passively collect solar energy that can be used to keep a building warm or cool.






45. An introduced - normative species.






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






47. An effect that results from long -term exposure to low levels of toxin.






48. 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.






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






50. An organism that obtains organic food molecules without eating other organisms or substances derived from other organisms. autotrophs use energy from the sun or from the oxidation of inorganic substances to make organic molecules from inorganic ones.