WEBS OF LIFE
Clockwise from left,
Ricketts, at Monterey,
California, in the 1930s,
pioneered the science
of marine ecology. The
El Vizcaíno Biosphere
Reserve, on Baja Cal-
ifornia’s Pacifi c coast:
As Ricketts wrote,
anyone visiting “a
rocky shore at low tide
has entered possibly
the most prolifi c life
zone in the world.”
Steinbeck scholar
Susan Shillinglaw: Her
works include a cultural
history of The Grapes
of Wrath. Specimens at
the Pacifi c Biological
Laboratories, like those
collected by Ricketts.
ED RICKETTS JR. / PAT HATHAWAY COLLECTION; GETTY IMAGES / ISTOCKPHOTO