We have searched for evidence of microbial activities inside naturally-decaying smooth cordgrass by transmission-electron microscopy. We found lots of evidence of eukaryotic mycelial digestion of tissue, including lignocellulose. We found evidence of bacteria only outside, on the surfaces of standing-decaying leaves, not inside the decaying tissues, but we did find images like this one, of erosion bacteria working their way into the outer parts of fallen, naked stems. The bacteria are the assemblages of rods near the top of the stem section; below the bacteria, in cell lumina, are hyphae of Passeriniella obiones. The finding of bacteria in the oldest decaying material examined fits the hypothesis that much of the prokaryotic decompositional activity follows that of ascomycetous fungi, after shoot parts make their way to the marsh sediment floor, as large pieces or shreds of stem and leaf, and as pellets of periwinkles , coffeebean snails , amphipods , and perhaps other shredder invertebrates. One surprising finding for the bacterial assemblages of decaying-leaf surfaces, was that when dry leaves were submerged, the bacteria exhibited substantial net movement away from the leaves. See Newell & Palm, 1998, Int Rev Hydrobiol 83:115-122; Newell & Porter, 2000, pp 159-185, in Weinstein & Kreeger, Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh Ecology, Kluwer.