Evaluating the Perception of the Concepts of Biodiversity Among Iranian Academic Graduates

Biodiversity is the root concept of ecological knowledge. The goal of the research is to evaluate the biodiversity concept perception among Iranian academic graduates to compare the findings derived from the sample population with definitions provided by international and national institutions. The research methodology is based on field analysis by a structured questionnaire with an emphasis on one open question; what is your definition of biodiversity? The result of the content analysis of 137 responses is categorized based on the respondents' educational group into four categories; technical & engineering, natural and biological sciences, humanities & social sciences, and architecture & art, which indicates the fact that the responses of the sample population can be categorized at two-level; theoretical knowledge (holistic and partial attitudes) and practical knowledge (conservative, interactive and developmental approaches). Finally, based on the findings of this study, graduates of Iranian universities, at the level of theoretical knowledge, possess a deeper understanding than responsible institutions, which indicates a high awareness of the theoretical level of the biodiversity concept. However, at the level of empirical knowledge, the codes derived from the analysis of the responses don’t provide clear and significant themes, and this shows insufficient knowledge of the academic community about the dimensions of biodiversity in practice and experience.The concept of biodiversity is one of the most fundamental concepts of ecological knowledge. This research was conducted with the aim of measuring the conceptual understanding of the Iranian academic graduates of the concept of biodiversity and comparing the findings of the studied sample with the definitions provided by international and national institutions. The research method is based on field analysis and a structured questionnaire centered on this "open" question that; What is your definition of the concept of biodiversity? The results of the content analysis of 137 complete and meaningful responses based on the respondents' educational group in four categories; technical & engineering, natural and biological sciences, humanities & social sciences, architecture & art, express the fact that the sample population studied can be divided into two levels of theoretical knowledge (holistic and partial perspectives) and practical knowledge (conservative, interactive, and developmental approaches). The results showed that at the level of theoretical knowledge, the respondents referred to deeper themes of the concept of biodiversity than media and responsible institutions, which indicates a high awareness of the theoretical level of the concept of biodiversity among the studied sample. At the same time, at the level of practical knowledge, the answer codes do not provide clear and significant themes about the concept of biodiversity, and this indicates the insufficient knowledge of the studied sample about the dimensions of biodiversity in the field of practice and experience.