広義では私たちが恩恵を受ける食物、天然資源、心身の健康、文化遺産さえも生命体と環境の相互作用の産物です。エコロジーがどのように「自然誌」から自然界の仕組みを説明するものから環境政策・管理上を左右する「予測の科学」へと変容したかを探り、生態学が環境の管理や保存に応用できることを例示します。エコロジーは環境問題に対する政治の関与を決定づける、社会・文化的目線の形成にも影響を与えました。環境問題が多くの課題を抱えている現状を踏まえ、未来にも想いを馳せます。
　　

• Presents key ecological principles in the context of current environmental challenges
• Demonstrates ecological concepts with a lively range of examples
• Discusses the evolution of ecological thinking over time
• Considers the role of ecology in tackling future environmental issues

   
Understanding how our living environment works is essentially a study of ecological systems. Ecology is the science of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment, and how such interactions create self-organising communities and ecosystems. This science touches us all. The food we eat, the water we drink, the natural resources we use, our physical and mental health, and much of our cultural heritage are to a large degree products of ecological interactions of organisms and their environment.
   
This Very Short Introduction celebrates the centrality of ecology in our lives. Jaboury Ghazoul explores how ecology has evolved rapidly from natural history to become a predictive science that explains how the natural world works, and which guides environmental policy and management decisions. Drawing on a range of examples, he shows how ecological science can be applied to management and conservation, including the extent to which theory has shaped practice. Ecological science has also shaped social and cultural perspectives on the environment, a process that influences politics of the environment. Ghazoul concludes by considering the future of ecology, particularly in the light of current and future environmental challenges.