The lives of seaweeds: a natural history of our planet's seaweeds and other algae.The lives of seaweeds: a natural history of our planet's seaweeds and other algae

Julie A. Phillips

Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2023.  Octavo, laminated boards, 288 pp., colour photographs, text illustrations.

The Lives of Seaweeds presents an inside look at the remarkable world of seaweeds and other algae. Coming in all colours, shapes, and sizes, from unicellular and bioluminescent algae to giant kelps, seaweeds and algae are omnipresent, forming the basis of most marine food webs. They are also the most numerous photosynthetic organisms on Earth and provide seventy percent of the planet’s oxygen.

Touted as the biofuel of the future, they are a cheap and nutritious food source, exhibit antiviral and antitumor properties, and play a central role in biogeochemical cycles that maintain the health of our planet.