Biofilms are complex microbial landscapes, as you can see from the front cover of this issue, which features an image that was specially commissioned from artist Gerhard Pucher by Tom Battin and colleagues for their article on page 76. Biofilms are formed when motile microorganisms encounter surfaces and switch from a planktonic mode of growth to form sessile and often complex communities. The coordinated multicellular behaviour that takes place within these dynamic and constantly changing 'microbial cities' was one of the first examples of the new field of research that is now referred to as sociomicrobiology.

Another fledgling research area involves the application of the tools of landscape ecology to microbiology. As was described by Randall Singer and colleagues in last month's issue, landscape ecology assesses “the influence of spatial heterogeneity on ecological processes and, specifically, addresses the distribution of biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem to evaluate the causes and consequences of these distributions.” In their Opinion article, Singer et al. argued that taking an approach that incorporates the tools of landscape ecology could improve the accuracy of ecological studies of antibiotic resistance. In this issue, Battin and colleagues also discuss landscape ecology and their idea that viewing biofilms as landscapes, and applying methods from landscape ecology, could further our understanding of these fascinating microbial communities.

Microbiologists are now realizing that there is much to be gained from applying ecological theories and tools that were originally developed for macroorganisms, such as landscape ecology and the related discipline of biogeography, to microbial populations. Perhaps eventually this will become a two-way process, with findings from microbial ecology informing macroecological theories.