Soils are highly complex and challenging environments to study. In this Review, Tony O'Donnell and colleagues call for the development of soil microbiology into a systems science. Imaging and modelling techniques are reviewed that together should enable microbial ecologists to examine the implications of spatio–temporal heterogeneity for the dynamics of microbial communities and their physical environments.
- Anthony G. O'Donnell
- Iain M. Young
- John W. Crawford
