[2] Abbott was born Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona in Hana, Maui, Territory of Hawaii, on June 20, 1919.

The couple moved to Pacific Grove, California where her husband taught at the Hopkins Marine Station run by Stanford University.

[11] In November 1997 she co-authored an essay in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin criticizing the trustees of Kamehameha Schools, which led to its reorganization.

[15][16] She was considered the foremost authority on the algae of the Pacific Ocean basin and in 2008 she received a lifetime achievement award from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources for her studies of coral reefs.

[17] The Board of Regents of the University of Hawaiʻi unanimously voted to rename the Life Sciences Building after Abbott in 2023.

To preserve Abbott's legacy and career as a botanist, the University of Hawaiʻi established a scholarship to support graduate research in Hawaiian ethnobotany and marine botany.