Levels of Biological Organization: An Organism-Centered Approach

Abstract

Early treatises concerned systems at the level of the organism or below. At the same time, basic concepts of hierarchies above the organism level were being formulated by ecologists, though in a comparatively diffuse manner. Rowe (1961) provides an extensive review of the history of levels-of-organization concept in the ecological context. In addition, he alludes to the importance of the individualistic approach (a la Gleason 1927). Increased interest in levels of organization may have been due to schematic presentations in textbooks (e.g.,