How is an Organism Different from a Population?

An ecosystem is composed of both the biotic components including the birds, animals, insects, microbes, plants, animals and abiotic components including the water, rocks, soil, air, etc. Both organism and population are the two different terms used to organize life on our planet. There are five levels of organization in an ecosystem and are listed according to their size – from small to large.

Also Read: Biotic and Abiotic


Organism → Population → Community → Ecosystem → Biosphere


An organism describes an individual or any living species, which can be an animal, plant, microbes, insects or a human being. All the organisms respond with their environment. For example, humans, plants, animals, etc. A population describes several individuals or organisms of a single species living together within a particular geographic area.

For example, Indian elephants, African grey parrots, etc. Both organism and population differ from each other. An organism refers to a single individual living in an ecosystem and population refers to a group of organisms living together in the same area. This was a brief introduction to the difference between population and organism in the levels of organization in an ecosystem. Stay tuned with BYJU’S to know more about the ecosystem, its components and the levels of organization in an ecosystem.

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