In a recent opinion paper in PNAS, Kreft et al. argue that technological advances allowing observation and experimentation on the level of single bacterial cells are generating a flood of new data. In order to make the best use of these data, individual-based observations should be combined with individual-based modelling, leading to microbial Individual-Based Ecology (µIBE). Sooner or later, this will become the future of microbiology.
The full paper can be viewed here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1317472110