Question

Ecology deals with
(a) The earth and planets
(b) The relationship between organisms and their environment
(c) The life under the sea
(d) Economical growth of poor people.

Answer 1

Hint: The term ecology is believed to have been introduced by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel who used the term 'okogie' to refer to the interrelationships of living organisms and their environment.

Completed answer:
The study of the physical, chemical, and biological processes, involved in the exchanges, interactions, and interrelations between organisms and their abiotic and biotic environments is known variously as ecology, environmental biology, or environmental science. It seeks to explain how the household of nature is kept in order, how organisms fit into their environment, and how do they interact with their biotic and abiotic environments to determine their distribution and abundance. Often ecology is regarded as the science of all relations of all organisms to all their environments. Thus, the most basic or fundamental concept of ecology is its emphasis on the interactions, interrelation, and interdependence among organisms and also between organisms and their environment.

Additional information:
- The term was derived from the Greek words oikos meaning household or dwelling place and logos meaning study.
- Literally, it means the study of organisms in their largest home, nature. Virtually an organism's home is its environment. So in a broad sense ecology is also termed environmental biology.
- It takes into account all exchange of energy and matter between organisms and their physical environment.
So, the correct answer is '(b) The relationship between organisms and their environment'.

Note: For mankind, environmental science is the systematic study of our environment, our role in it, and our impact on it.
- A relatively new realm, the environmental science, is multidisciplinary and it integrates natural sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities in a broad holistic study of the world around us.
- Ecology is traditionally divided into three broad branches, namely autecology, synecology, and habitat ecology.