Life across scale

Biology

Zoom from molecules to cells, organisms, populations, and ecosystems. Biology changes its tools as scale changes, while the same living processes keep connecting the whole system.

Scale atlas

Biology is a zoom lens on the same living world.

Start at the scale of the system you want to explain. The fields overlap because living systems cross boundaries constantly.

01
nm → µm
01 · Molecular scale

Information & machinery

Genes and biomolecules store instructions, catalyze reactions, and build living structures.

02
µm → mm
02 · Cellular scale

The living unit

Cells organize chemistry into self-maintaining systems; microbes show how much life fits at tiny scales.

03
mm → 100 m
03 · Organismal scale

Bodies & forms of life

Organisms coordinate structures and functions while fungi, plants, and animals solve survival differently.

04
m → planet
04 · Ecological scale

Populations & ecosystems

Organisms form populations, communities, food webs, and ecosystems linked by energy and material cycles.

all scales
Cross-scale process

Evolution crosses the whole atlas.

Inheritance begins within organisms, selection acts on populations, and change accumulates across generations. Evolution links every biological scale.

planned field
Recurring at every scale
InformationEnergyHomeostasisEvolution