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The flora and fauna of the rocky intertidal zone are among the most biologically diverse on the planet – not in terms of species richness, but of the diversity and density of higher taxonomic categories. All of the major animal phyla can be found in the rocky intertidal, sometimes with representatives of each inhabiting a single rock or boulder. In addition to this phylogenetic diversity, the rocky intertidal may be one of the most ancient of habitats because it is a necessary and continual result of celestial mechanics set in motion prior to the diversification of life. When advising readers to ‘. . . look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again’, Steinbeck and Ricketts (1951) seemed to underline this point while advocating for a holistic approach to ecological research. A few years earlier, Ricketts and Calvin set out to comprehensively document what was then known about the ecology of the north-eastern Pacific (NEP) rocky intertidal in their classic book, Between Pacific Tides (Ricketts et al., 1985). Since the first edition of Between Pacific Tides (1939), the NEP has become widely recognised as an ideal natural laboratory for experimental ecologists and as a platform for more observationally focussed ecologists seeking to understand macroecological and biogeographical patterns. It is, of course, outside the scope of this chapter to attempt a comprehensive review of this extensive research. Rather, we focus on a couple of broad topics that are central to our current understanding of fundamental ecological, evolutionary and conservation topics that have benefitted from NEP rocky intertidal case studies. The first half of the chapter deals with recent work on the biotic and abiotic factors influencing patterns of range wide abundance and distribution of species, and how such patterns are being affected by human impacts. The second half reviews the latest research on the role of direct and indirect human impacts on topdown and bottom-up control of rocky intertidal community structure and functioning.