Cell Structure and Organisation: Question 4
Syllabus 2.1
A student describes part of the human stomach wall as follows: "It is built from muscle tissue and glandular tissue working together, and its role is to churn food and mix it with digestive juices."
Which level of biological organisation is being described here?
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Worked solution
Step 1: Recall the definitions of each level of organisation
- A cell is the basic unit of a living organism.
- A tissue is a group of similar cells that work together to carry out a shared function.
- An organ is made of several different tissues working together to perform a particular function.
- An organ system is a group of organs that work together to carry out a major body function.
Step 2: Match the description to a level
The description names two different tissues, muscle tissue and glandular tissue, working together as one structure with a single role: churning food and mixing it with digestive juices. Several different tissues working together as a single functional structure is exactly the definition of an organ.
Step 3: Confirm by elimination
The description is not a single tissue, because it names two different tissue types. It is not a whole organ system, because only one structure (rather than a group of organs) is being described. It is clearly above the level of a single cell, since both named tissues are themselves made of many cells.
Why the other options are wrong
- A (cell): the description is of tissues working together, which is a larger unit than a single cell.
- B (tissue): the description names two different tissues, not one, so it is above the tissue level.
- D (organ system): only one structure with one function is described, not a group of organs working together.
Final answer
The level of organisation being described is an organ, option C.