There are certain conditions that lead to successful predictions of organismal function. Success is greatest at the most general ecological and behavioural level and at the finest, within tissue, level of resolution.
Examples of the most general level are determining whether an organism is a herbivore or carnivore, whether it likes to climb trees or stay on the ground. Examples at the finest level are precise statements of the functional properties of a particular bone or muscle.
Success has been limited at an intermediate level of resolution because of many problems.