Microfluidics is an emerging technology that is used more and more in biology experiments.
Its capabilities of creating precisely controlled conditions in cellular dimensions
make it ideal to explore cell-cell and cell-environment interactions. Thus, a wide
spectrum of problems in microbial ecology can be studied using engineered microbial
habitats. Moreover, artificial microfluidic ecosystems can serve as model systems
to test ecology theories and principles that apply on a higher level in the hierarchy
of biological organization. In this mini review we aim to demonstrate the versatility
of microfluidics and the diversity of its applications that help the advance of microbiology,
and in more general, experimental ecology.
