System Integration
- Complex living organisms have evolved to make use of living, or body, systems made up of component parts that collectively perform an overall function
- Coordination of these parts is required in order for the systems to fully integrate and work together for the whole organism
- Living systems are often made up of billions of cells and so require mechanisms of cell-cell communication within the system and with cells in a separate system in a different part of the organism
- An example of this, found in both plants and animals, is the use of hormones; these are produced within one body system (the endocrine system) but may have an effect in a different body system (the reproductive system)