10. Dynamics of Microbial Growth

Microbial cell colonies can be grown on a solid growth medium or within a liquid growth medium. If you wanted to count the number of bacteria cells in a small colony found in a liquid broth, which counting technique would you use?

Many forms of technology have been invented to prevent microbiologists from having to count each and every individual bacterial cell they are studying. Which form of technology is able to count the number of cells in a bacterial population using a laser beam?

Which of the following methods is best for counting fecal bacteria from a stream to determine the safety of the water for drinking?

a. dry weight

b. turbidity

c. viable plate counts

d. membrane filtration