In this former poster-panel are shown ascospores of four of the principal microbial secondary producers of the smooth-cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) shoot- decomposition system. Along with Phaeosphaeria spartinicola (A) are pictured: (B) Buergenerula spartinae; (C) Phaeosphaeria spartinae; and (D) Passeriniella obiones. After producing tissue-digesting mycelium throughout the cordgrass parts, all four form ascomata (their sexual structures)just inside of the decaying tissue of cordgrass shoot-parts (A & B in leaf blades; C in leaf sheaths; D in naked stems). Each species produces characteristic changes, as shown in this image, in the leaf or stem appearance as it goes about its business. If fungal occupation of dead smooth-cordgrass is prevented, the leaves stay a light tan color. I have recently discovered that two species usually are involved in the production of the "black-peppered" appearance shown in (A): P. spartinicola and its nearly everpresent, but cryptic, partner Mycosphaerella sp. 2 . See Newell & Wasowski, 1995, Estuaries 18:241-249; Newell & Porter, 2000, pp. 159-185, in Weinstein & Kreeger, Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh Ecology, Kluwer.