Another Essay Question

[AlisonNM]

I have another "essay" question.

 

You received water from a local lake to determine the bacterial cell count, you did the count using both direct microscopic count and the plate count methods. Which methods would likely give you a higher bacterial count? Why?

 

I thought at first it was the direct microscopic count because it counts both dead and live cells. Then I started thinking it was the late count method because of the way the cells/colonies are counted. Now I'm just not sure. Any help would be appreciated.

[Daecon]

What exactly does each method mean and how do they work?

[Function]

Isn't quantity of bacteria in cultures expressed as number of "colony-forming units" (CFU)?

 

Who knows/cares how many bacteria in one CFU?