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Biology · Glossary

What is Levels of organisation?

Definition 1.5 University Biology — Year 1 · Chapter 1 — The Organism: A System in Interaction with Its Environment

Living matter is organised in nested levels of organisation, each built from the units of the one below and each with properties the lower level does not have: molecules (1 nm1\,\mathrm{nm}), cells (1 to 100 µm1\text{ to }100\,\text{µ}\mathrm{m}), tissues, organs (1 to 100 mm1\text{ to }100\,\mathrm{mm}), organ systems, the organism (1 µm1\,\text{µ}\mathrm{m} to 100 m100\,\mathrm{m}), then above it the population, the community, the ecosystem and the biosphere. A cell respires; a molecule does not. A population evolves; an organism does not.

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