Which field studies the relationships among organisms and their environment, including energy flow and nutrient cycling?

• A. Genetics
• B. Entomology
• C. Ecology
• D. Archaeology

Answer: (C)

Ecology focuses on how organisms relate to each other and to their surroundings, including how energy moves through ecosystems and how nutrients cycle. It covers how communities are structured, how energy flows from producers to consumers to decomposers, and how elements like carbon and nitrogen cycle through air, water, soil, and living beings. This integration of living and nonliving factors is what ties together the relationships between organisms and their environment. Genetics is about genes and inheritance, entomology study of insects, and archaeology examines past human societies through artifacts and remains. Because ecology directly addresses the interactions and the energy and nutrient processes that connect organisms to their surroundings, it is the best fit.