Organism and individual

[Gurcharan Singh]

Dear Members
I seek your opinion on difference between an 'individual' and an 'organism'. I have believed that members of a particular species (or population) are individuals, and different species different organisms. But then these definitions:
 
A population is a "group of organisms coexisting at the same time and place and capable for the most part of interbreeding"
 
A species is a "population or series of populations the individuals of which are capable of interbreeding freely with each other but not with members of other species". 
 
(above definitions from Ecology by Paul Colinvaux)
 
How are they organisms when we talk about a population and how they become individuals when talk of the same population (or populations) as a species?
 
Gurcharan Singh
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Dr. Gurcharan Singh                      Res:
Department of Botany                        932 Anand Kunj
S. G. T. B. Khalsa College                  Vikas Puri
University of Delhi                               New Delhi-110018
Delhi-110007, India                             Phone: 91-011-5531534
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