Preferred term

growth curve

Is replaced by

[Henderson's] plot of log numbers of a population of living organisms against time. For a culture of microorganisms with limiting nutrients the growth phase is typically bell-shaped. A short lag phase of little or no increase in numbers is followed by a steep rise in numbers (exponential growth or log phase) to a plateau, followed by a rapid fall in growth rate as nutrients become exhausted, waste products accumulate and the available “habitat” becomes overcrowded.

http://vocabs.lter-europe.net/EnvThes/msa0527