Final answer:
The termites infesting a house, not including the microorganisms living in their guts, constitute a population of the same species interacting in one area, which makes option C the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
In biology, specifically in the study of ecology, a population refers to all the individual organisms of the same species that live and interact in the same area. When considering termites in your house, excluding the microorganisms in their guts, you are looking at a specific group of organisms that are interacting with each other in a shared environment and belong to the same species. Thus, the termites infesting your house (not including the microorganisms living in their guts) would constitute a population, making option C the correct choice.
It is important to note that the microorganisms referred to in figure 9, such as the symbiotic protozoa in the termite guts, do form a mutualistic relationship with the termites. However, these microorganisms are a different species and do not constitute a population of termites. Microbial ecology is the study of these interactions between microbial populations and their environment, including the relationships within a termite population and those of the symbiotic protozoa.