Wolfgang Nentwig: he studied biology at the University of Marburg, Germany, 1981 PhD, 1983-1984 guest researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, 1985-1988 assistant professor at the University of Regensburg, Germany, 1988-2019 full professor for ecology, University of Bern, Switzerland. Co-organizer of the European spiders identification website and of the World Spider Catalog.

Jutta Ansorg: she studied energy- and process engineering at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, 2001 PhD, 1993-98 lecturer in mathematics and researcher in thermodynamics, 1998-2014 engineer in Switzerland for international power plant and waste incineration plant construction, since 2014 specialist for air pollution control and noise protection for the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. She has been studying spiders in her spare time for about 45 years.

Paula Cushing: she received a PhD in Zoology at the University of Florida in 1995. Has been doing research on spiders for 40 years and has published on spiders, solifuges, and scorpions. Has been the Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in the United States since 1998. Is very active in the American Arachnological Society and the International Society of Arachnology and has served as past president of both societies. Has also hosted several arachnological conferences and has mentored early career arachnologists.

Yvonne Kranz-Baltensperger: she studied biology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, PhD thesis 2014. Since 1997 scientific assistant for the collections in the Departments of Arachnology and Entomology at the Natural History Museum Bern. Research work within the PBI project (Planetary Biodiversity Inventory) with dwarf six-eyed spiders (Oonopidae).

Christian Kropf: he studied biology at the University of Graz, Austria, 1992 PhD, 1992-1995 assistant. Curator for invertebrate animals at the Natural History Museum Bern, Switzerland, 1995 - 2023. Curator of Biological Sciences at the Natural History Museum Basel, Switzerland, since 2024. Since 1996 lecturer at the University of Bern, 2011 habilitation. Co-organizer of the European spiders identification website and of the World Spider Catalog.

Mit der 2. völlig überarbeiteten und aktualisierten Ausgabe liefert der Autor nicht nur eine Bestandsaufnahme, sondern stellt Themen wie das Wachstum der menschlichen Bevölkerung, ihre Versorgung mit Nahrung und Energie und die Veränderung der Umwelt in einen historischen Zusammenhang. Trends werden beschrieben, komplexe Wechselwirkungen systematisiert. Er bezieht dabei deutlich Stellung, entwickelt eigene Ideen und zeigt trotz teilweise düsterer Fakten Lösungsansätze auf. Illustriert mit anschaulichen Beispielen, umfassenden Hintergrunddaten und vielen Abbildungen sind die einzelnen Kapitel auch unabhängig voneinander eine spannende Lektüre.

Einführung.- Bevölkerung.- Nahrung.- Energie.- Rohstoffe.- Abfall.- Ökobilanz.- Umweltbelastung durch Chemikalien.- Beeinflussung von Atmosphäre und Klima.- Veränderung der Umwelt.