生物種は進化と絶滅を繰り返し、地質時代には数回の大量絶滅が起きたことが知られています。現在、再び大量絶滅期を迎えているとされますが、これは人類が地質学的規模で引き起こした変化によるものであることを多くの証拠が示唆しています。生命の多様性は世界のあらゆる自然循環の原動力で、人類が依存する多くの資源の源でもあります。したがって、生物多様性の保全はすべての人の生命線となる事象なのです。本書では、生物多様性の概念とそれが関与する生物の基本的な進化学的、生態学的、行動学的プロセスを紹介し、生物多様性に対するさまざまな脅威とその影響、そして問題に対する解決策を考察し、生物多様性保全の将来を展望します。
 

Extinction is a natural process. In geological time there have been several periods of mass extinction. One of these periods is unfolding right now but all the evidence suggests that current extinction rates are between a hundred and a thousand times greater than the background rate. To put this in to context, a quarter of all known mammalian species is at risk. The current extinction crisis is unique, because it is caused by the impact of one species, humans, on all others. This acceleration of species loss, and the much more widespread reductions in the populations of many species, is not merely a tragedy in aesthetics, it is also a threat to the quality of human life, indeed to the entire human enterprise.
   
Biodiversity, the diversity of life, is not only fascinating and beautiful, it is the engine of all the world's natural cycles, and the source of many of the resources on which humanity depends. Concern about biodiversity conservation is, therefore, not merely the preoccupation of a few enthusiastic naturalists - it is the lifeline business of everybody.
   
In this Very Short Introduction, David Macdonald introduces the concept of biodiversity and the basic biological processes that it involves - evolutionary, ecological, and behavioral. He considers the various threats to biodiversity, their impacts, and some of the solutions to the problems; concluding by considering the future of biodiversity conservation.