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A mesmerizing tour of our underwater forests and what they can teach us.
Offshore and out of sight to most beachgoers on the North Pacific coast is a wondrous habitat: the bull kelp forest. Each year, tiny bull kelp saplings explode into sixty-foot "redwoods," until winter storms tear them loose and fling great tangles of wrack on the shore. While they flourish, these underwater forests harbor abalone, salmon, and rockfish, and they entreat cormorants and murrelets to hunt among their thrumming canopies. Meanwhile, sea otters and sunflower sea stars gorge on spiny urchins who, if left to run rampant, will devour a kelp bed down to barren wasteland. In The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest, Josie Iselin profiles thirteen species—with stylish illustrations from Ellen Litwiller—to be our ambassadors to this undersung world. She explores how their interspecies dramas play out in eight coastal regions, from Central California to Alaska, exploring instances of interdependent, compromised, and resilient coastal ecosystems. An array of sea creatures feature in these pages, as well as shorebirds that connect land and sea. Land-dwelling humans are also deeply implicated in this saga—by turns beneficiaries, agents of harm, and stewards of these subtidal sanctuaries.
Praise for The Curious World of Seaweed by Josie Iselin (2019):
"A mesmerizing swim through a liminal world." —Barbara Kiser, Nature
"Seaweed is literally the roots of our ocean." —Fabien Cousteau, ocean explorer, documentary filmmaker and eldest grandson of Jacques Cousteau
"Who knew seaweed portraiture could probe the deepest mysteries of existence? Josie Iselin's wonderful new book explores a world just below the surface. One wonder is that seaweed performs such a vital role in the ecosystem, literally helping power life on Earth. Another wonder is its shape-shifting colors and crazy symmetries, which Iselin's singular photography pops to life. Her text puts seaweed in a historical framework full of surprising stories. The result is an adventure through art, science, and pure pleasure." —Mary Ellen Hannibal, author of Citizen Scientist
Josie Iselin is an artist, author, and designer who has been telling seaweed and kelp stories for over a decade. Her two books An Ocean Garden: The Secret Life of Seaweed (2014, 2023) and The Curious World of Seaweed (2019) display her profound understanding of seaweed natural history and her deep connections within the seaweed science community. Iselin directs content development for the Above/Below campaign and is the lead author of the campaign's web story, The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp (bullkelp.info). She teaches in the School of Design at San Francisco State University and lives in San Francisco. josieiselin.com
Ellen Litwiller is a freelance illustrator whose work brings art and science together in imaginative ways. She loves exploring how creativity and curiosity intersect, using a variety of mediums to tell stories that are both visually striking and scientifically accurate. She began her career creating exhibits for natural history museums, where she worked as a muralist, illustrator, model maker, and preparator. With years of hands-on experience in exhibition design and installation, she developed a deep appreciation for detail and storytelling. Through collaboration with scientists, she enjoys the shared curiosity that unite art and science—both rooted in observation and appreciation of the world around us and the universe beyond. ellenlitwiller.net
Preface
Introduction
Bull Kelp Community
Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana)
Purple Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)
Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)
Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)
Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens)
Rockfish (Sebastes spp.)
Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera)
Woody Kelp (Pterygophora californica)
Snowy Plover (Anarhynchus nivosus)
Pelagic Cormorant (Urile pelagicus)
Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha)
Humans (Homo sapiens)
Bull Kelp Regional Stories
Afterword
Acknowledgments