Page 8 - GPHS Environmental Public Health Standards (Foundation of Public Health) v1
P. 8
Vegetative* bacteria growth curve
There are four distinct phases of the growth curve: lag, exponential (log), stationary,
and death.
Stationary phase No increase in cell
Log phase number; initiated upon depletion of
Increase in cell number an essential nutrient
at a rate dependent on
species and medium
Death phase
Rapid death of cells
unless they are
transferred to a fresh
Lag phase medium.
Acclimatization to the
medium and initiation
of the protein and DNA
synthesis.
*Vegetative – growing and multiplying
