College students' perceptions of bees and the environment

Abstract

Bees are essential to ensure the functioning of the Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. In relation to humans, approximately one third of food is produced by pollination. Bees are responsible for half of this process on the planet. Despite these scientific realities, a significant decline in the population has been detected in recent years. This is a serious threat (Zattara and Aizen, 2019) due to anthropogenic activities (Szczurek et al., 2020; Zambrano et al. 2019). All these facts are not well known to all citizens. Even university students sometimes do not have an adequate knowledge and perception of the importance of bees. What conceptions do university students have about bees? Do they know the importance of these insects in the environment and their role in ecosystems? Is the perception of university students different according to their gender, place of origin (rural or urban) or field of knowledge? By answering these questions, the aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of some elements of university students' conceptions of bees and the environment. The research was carried out using a mixed approach. A Likert-type scale (49 items) was designed and validated. Participants were also asked 4 open-ended questions on the same topic for in-depth qualitative analysis. The research involved 308 undergraduate and postgraduate university students from all branches of knowledge (59.8% female and 40.2% male). The participants, with an average age of 23.2 years, came from urban (67.2%) and rural (32.8%) areas.