In 1890, he was habilitated for botany at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where he spent several years as a professor. At Karlsruhe, he also worked in the bacteriology department of the Food Research Institute. He was Professor of Botany at the research academy at Eisenach.[1]
He published many articles on the subjects of cryptogamic botany, bacteriology, and plant physiology. Between 1892 and 1933 Migula issued exsiccata series, among them Kryptogamae Germaniae, Austriae et Helvetiae exsiccatae.[2] He is remembered for describing the bacterial genus Pseudomonas, and for publication of Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Deutsch-Österreich und der Schweiz [Cryptogamic Flora of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland], a work connected with Otto Wilhelm Thomé's Flora von Deutschland [Plants of Germany].[3] Other significant works by Migula include:
Die Bakterien, 1891 [Bacteria]
System der Bakterien. Handbuch der Morphologie, Entwicklungsgeschichte und Systematik der Bakterien, 1897–1900. (two volumes) [System for bacteria. Handbook of morphology, developmental history and systematics of bacteria]