地球的温度一直上升，海水也跟着一起升；地球上最小的鼠海豚物种面临绝种；来自日本的祖母绿甲壳虫出现在北美——这一切为什么对我们很重要？我们需要在乎吗？在这本身中，作者 Charles J. Krebs回答了这个问题，并已简单易懂的方式透漏为什么这些现象发生，以及为什么我们必须好好的注意这些问题。
 
作者在书中强调了生态学的重要原则，从种类绝种到太阳在生态系统里扮演的重要角色。每一章节都介绍某一个问题、透过真实事件来描述这些问题、解释这个问题为什么需要我们的关注以及对于人类带来的影响，比如过度捕鱼、入侵物种的扩散等等。这本书没有许多复杂的理论或者数学，作者写的非常平易近人，因为他认为所有人都必须关注这些问题。
 
关于作者：
 Charles J. Krebs是加拿大温哥华University of British Columbia的动物学名誉教授，同时也是University of Canberra的应用生态学研究所的常驻思考家。
 
“Why Ecology Matters is quite different from traditional ecology texts. Krebs does not attempt to cover classic studies or the authors of many of our main theories. To many ecologists, this will be a blasphemous approach to teaching ecology, but engaging a nonspecialist audience necessitates focusing on the major ideas and how they affect people, rather than on science per se. Rather than trying to cover all the core principles and concepts in ecology, Krebs covers twelve main messages, explicitly tying these messages to human-caused changes and impacts, as well as potential society feedback. In this way, he explores the full gamut of ecology for a range of readers.”
——Marc W. Cadotte, University of Toronto Scarborough, coeditor of "Invasive Species in a Globalized World: Ecological, Social, and Legal Perspectives on Policy"