A combination of all living and nonliving things and the factors that affect organisms' ways of life is called what?

• A. Environment
• B. Ecosystem
• C. Habitat
• D. Ecology

Answer: (B)

An ecosystem is the system formed by all living things in a place plus the nonliving environment, along with the interactions among them. It includes how organisms depend on each other for food, shelter, and survival, as well as how energy flows from producers to consumers and nutrients cycle through air, water, soil, and organisms. This fits the description because it covers both living and nonliving parts and the factors that influence how organisms live in that area. The environment is the broader surroundings, not the network of relationships and processes; a habitat is the specific place where an organism lives, and ecology is the science that studies these relationships. So the best term is ecosystem.