Level of life
Organ
Several tissues combined into a structure with a particular job, such as the heart, a kidney or a leaf.
Organ systems
Groups of organs that work together, such as the circulatory, respiratory, digestive and urinary systems.Source: OpenStax, 2022
Structure
How Organ systems connects
Organ systems is made of
Organ systems makes up
Level of life
Organism
An individual living thing, from a single bacterium to a tree or a person.
Organ systems includes
Structure
Heart and circulation
The heart pumps blood through blood vessels, carrying oxygen and nutrients around the body.
Structure
Lungs and breathing
The lungs take in oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the blood.
Structure
Kidneys
The kidneys filter wastes and extra water out of the blood, making urine.
Organ systems is involved in
Process
Digestion
The digestive system breaks food down into nutrients the body can absorb and use.
Process
Homeostasis
Keeping internal conditions, such as body temperature and blood chemistry, within a stable range.
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Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Anatomy and Physiology 2e (opens the original in a new tab)
OpenStax (2022). OpenStax, Rice University.
TextbookEducationalLicence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (linked, not reused)