Example experiment from a starved culture previously grown at a rate of 0.3 h − 1 with a viability after 5 days of starvation. After (1) extraction and (2) addition of 40 µM of glycerol the decay of viability is delayed (black circles) compared to a control without glycerol (green symbols). Per viable cell, the glycerol addition in this experiment is 0.33 fmol CFU − 1. After an initial period of survival, the culture with added glycerol (black) dies at the same rate as the control (green). The 'lag time' fitted to this data is 1 day. 