This article discusses the history and progression of microbiology. It states that technology development has traditionally been based on single organisms, but that microbial ecology is the future of microbiology. Sections include: the microbial world as the underpinning of the biosphere, autotrophy as a microbial way of life, enrichment culture technology, sex and lateral gene transfer in ecology and evolution, the molecular tree of life, microbial ecology and microbial diversity, ecological findings identify new targets, and microbial ecology is the future of microbiology.
