A Queer Ecology
Audacia Ray
vernal pools are Forested Temporary
Full of decomposing leaves and detritivores
Wet in spring, dry by fall
“Wicked big puddles”
Wetlands
Small Isolated from other water
Made by Glaciers
In northeast America
Some creatures’ life cycles depend on vernal pools and they can’t survive without
Fairy shrimp are some of the first vernal pool creatures to activate in the spring.
Actual adult size = 1 inch
Some can stay dormant for years, waiting. They don’t migrate -they rehydrateThey Hatch, and then grow Through many stages.
With the right conditions, they thrive.
Spotted
salamanders experience metamorphosis. Do they know what and how they are becoming?
The embryos collaborate with algae. The two organisms combine and photosynthesize.
Symbiosis Makes Them
Transition is natural. for wood frogs and many other vernal pool denizens
Striped maples have a “starting sex”there are four (known) possibilities.
In a recent study, 54% of striped maples changed their sex over four years.
These little trans trees are extremely common in forest understories.
26% of them changed sex more than once.
You’ve metprobably one and didn’t think about their sex at all.
When the creatures of vernal pools
And queer and trans people
are safe and valued, that indicates ecosystem health.
Do we deserve to thrive even when other beings don’t understand us? Is our survival important? Do our communities matter?
Yes. Yes. Yes.