Identifying the influencing factors on Understanding of Biodiversity among Agriculture and Natural Resources Students of Razi University

The aim of this mixed study was determining the understanding and perception of Agriculture and National Resources students of Razi university about biodiversity and the factors affecting it. Due to the increasing loss of biodiversity and the role of humankind to reduce this process, students of agriculture and natural resources were examined. This study was a qualitative-quantitative research. The population of this qualitative research was biodiversity experts in Kermanshah province and the method was snowball sampling. The population in quantitative part of the study was undergraduate, master's and doctoral students of agriculture and natural resources of Razi University (N=1718), that 323 of them were selected using stratified random sampling. Quantitative data were collected by in-depth semistructured interviews and quantitative data were collected by a self-made questionnaire. Qualitative results showed that for the study of the students understanding of biodiversity, 5 main categories including the concept of biodiversity, the importance of biodiversity, protection of biodiversity, threats to biodiversity and human responsibility for biodiversity should be investigated. Quantitative results showed that students’ understanding of biodiversity and its categories is in an undesirable situation. In terms of field of study, educational level, age, and marital status, there were significant differences between students' understanding of biodiversity.