replica plating is a technique that transfers colonies from one plate to another in the same spot as the last plate so the different media plates can be compared side by side. it is used to compare the growth of the same colonies on different plates of media to determine which environments the bacterial colony can or cannot grow in (this gives insight to possible auxotrophic characteristics. the method of replica plating implemented by joshua lederberg and esther lederberg included auxotrophs that were temperature-sensitive; that is, their ability to synthesize was temperature-dependent. (auxotrophs are usually not temperature-dependent. they can also depend on other factors.) it is also possible that an organism is auxotrophic to more than just one organic compound that it requires for growth.