Final answer:
Cultural ecology is the correct answer, describing the comprehensive environment including individual beliefs, values, and practices shaped by interactions with the physical environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cultural ecology is defined as an individual's total environment, which includes beliefs, values, practices, institutions, and psychological processes. It involves the study of the interactions between various cultural practices and the physical environment, also taking into account the influence of different physical, constructed, or modified environments on cultural adaptations and behaviors.
Culture itself is a dynamic system of collectively shared symbols, meanings, and norms—the non-genetic information possessed by a society. For instance, cultural integration highlights how ideas, practices, and traditions from one aspect of culture can affect other aspects, interconnecting different cultural practices in complex ways. Moreover, a cultural system shapes its members through a variety of components, including the cultural lens which forms one's perception of the world.
In terms of adapting to the environment and shaping societal changes, cultural ecology examines these very adaptations such as the shift from diverse crops to monoculture in agriculture, which led to ecosystem changes like increased soil erosion and the need for pesticides. These examples illustrate how societal practices interplay with ecological systems in profound and sometimes unforeseen ways.