The standing-decaying leaf blade of which we see only a portion of a square cm here originally had the ascomycete Phaeosphaeria spartinicola growing in the now-yellow upper area, and it still has Buergenerula spartinae growing in the blackened area at the bottom. The blade has been grazed by saltmarsh periwinkles, which have removed much of the original material from the upper, yellow part. It is clear from this image that the periwinkles prefer to avoid eating areas of decayed blade that contain B. spartinae. It is not yet known whether this is due to chemical repellence by the melanin that B. spartinae deposits, or perhaps to an increase in toughness due to the blackening process, but the result is that after heavy periwinkle grazing, the sexual structures of B. spartinae survive, while those of P. spartinicola are eaten. See Graça, M.A.S., S.Y. Newell and R.T. Kneib. 1999? Consumption rates of organic matter and fungal mass of the Spartina alterniflora decay system by three species of saltmarsh invertebrates. Mar Biol., submitted.