James A. Estes
University of California Press, May 2016
Part memoir and part ecology primer, Serendipity—the latest book from celebrated marine ecologist James Estes—is an insightful reminder that when observing nature, there is always much more than meets the eye. Estes relates his epiphany that apex predators play key roles in kelp forest ecosystems, an insight he gleaned in 1971 while studying sea otters in Alaskan waters. “In the absence of sea otter predation, sea urchins had increased in size and number, and the larger and more abundant urchins had eaten the kelp,” he writes. “This was my ‘aha moment,’ a profound realization that would set a path for the remainder of my life.”
Estes took that revelation and ran with it, building a conceptual framework and a career that would see him apply his understanding of ecology to numerous marine ecosystems around the world. His message in Serendipity is ...
