Levels of Biological Organization: An Organism-Centered Approach
MacMahon JA, Phillips DL, Robinson JV, Schimpf DJ. 1978. Levels of Biological Organization: An Organism-Centered Approach. BioScience. 28(11):700-704
This paper addresses the traditional concept of the levels of biological organization and presents an alternative, organism-centered scheme, depicting four types of biological relationships. The scheme emphasizes essential differences between the nature of the relationships subsumed under the concepts of community and ecosystem. We believe that the levels-of-organization concept has heuristic value, providing insights to both students and researchers. Consequently, we here propose an alternative schema which elaborates on the supraorganismal levels. Our concept emphasizs the organism as the pivotal unit, not just another rung on the ladder, and changes the emphasis from 'levels of organization' to 'biological relationships of the organism.'
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- MacMahon, James; Phillips, Donald; Robinson, James; Schimpf, David
- Units
- SODN
- Keywords
- Biology, Organizational Concepts