Final answer:
Rules defined on an environment record are specific to merging or branching in that environment. Rules at the instance level apply to all phases by default in a deployment.
Step-by-step explanation:
If rules are defined on an environment record, they will only be applied during merging from or branching to this environment. Whereas defining rules at the instance level will apply them by default to all the phases within a deployment. The correct answer is: A. Execution, merging, branching, environment, instance, phases, deployment.