Biocomplexity

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Biocomplexity
Understanding collective behavior

Biocomplexity arises when the collective behavior of a biological system overwhelms the behavior of the individual components of the system. For example, microorganisms strongly influence and are influenced by the biogeochemical processes in their environment. They communicate by quorum sensing, as well as through exchange of genetic components. The resulting system-wide behavior requires treatment of all components together, ranging from the genome, through the cellular and community structure, to the ecosystem level. A snapshot of such a system reveals structure that can only be fully understood from understanding its development over evolutionary time.