Fig. 2: Inhabitation of “bins” (regions on the agar) by temporarily immobile cells is larger for dryer plates but over time the surface is statistically uniform.

a A wet case, following drying the plate for 8 min. The average % of time a bin (total number of bins in a frame = 100) is occupied is approximately 6%, regardless of the time interval (5–360 s). The inset shows that the standard deviation decreases as t^-1/2 with time. b The temporal correlation in the bin occupation decays to zero with a characteristic time of about 5 s. c An example of the different bins occupied by the temporarily immobile cells for the case of 60 s and (d) for 360 s. e A dry case, following drying the plate for 30 min. The average % of time a bin (total number of bins in a frame = 100) is occupied is approximately 13%, regardless of the time interval (5–360 s). f The temporal correlation in the bin occupation (dry case) decays to zero with a characteristic time of about 2 s. g An example of the different bins occupied by the temporarily immobile cells for the case of 60 s and (h) for 360 s. Scale bar in c, d, g, and h, is 10 μm.