Microfluidic chips provide visual access to in situ soil ecology

Abstract

Mafla-Endara et al. incubate a microfluidic chip with and directly in soil in order to examine interactions between microbial communities and the pore space microstructures. This work shows the spatiotemporal changes of soil microhabitats and demonstrates that fungal hyphae increase the dispersal range and abundance of water-dwelling organisms across air pockets.