Sigmoidal curves are used to describe the population kinetics of microbial growth on a logarithmic scale. Many studies show that cumulative production of metabolic gases over time also follow a sigmoidal curve, as one would expect the cumulative metabolic gases in logarithmic scale to follow the sigmoidal curve?
We find it easy to understand the sigmoidal curve of microbial growth, as we can easily study the CFU's that this is built on. But the curve also represents metabolic activity as the microbes grow and divide (though we cannot study ALL of this) so what you see is the production of gas representing a limited part of that metabolic activity. When the bacterial 'growth' and division slows down or stops you get the same plateau of the curve in the cumulative amount.
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