Figure 1:

The emerging perspective of upscaling in biology. Most conservation issues relate to populations, communities or ecosystems, but it is the individual that is in contact with its local environment, and its response may often involve molecular processes within cells. Effects therefore need to be scaled up, first through molecular mechanisms to the performance of the whole organism, and then from individuals to populations and further. The bundles of grey arrows illustrate this upscaling, and how multiple entities at one level may interact to affect the next biological level. At each level, new processes may need to be taken into account, and evolution comprises an important feedback loop because Darwininan selection operating at the individual level may, over time, change the gene pool. Physiology plays a key role because its fundamental approach spans across scales from molecules to individuals and beyond. The success of conservation physiology hinges on its ability to connect with ecological disciplines that can take the scaling further, to populations, communities, ecosystems and the biosphere.