ABSTRACT
Microbial biofilms represent a complex assemblage of individual cells that are associated with surfaces. Unlike microbial cells freely dispersed in an aqueous phase, biofilm cells associated with surfaces develop spatial relationships to each other that permit interactions approaching those of multicellular organisms. Because biofilm cells are fixed in space for at least short periods of time, their behavior can be evaluated on an individual cell basis. This provides the opportunity to determine intra-population variations as well as inter-population interactions in mixed species biofilm communities.
