Abstract:

By providing various educational programs, botanical gardens (BGs) can play significant roles in promoting biodiversity conservation. At the same time, how well the public recognizes the function of BG’s and the image the public forms of BG’s may influence BGs’ educational function. In this study, we selected one research botanical garden (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG)), one city garden (Hangzhou Botanical Garden (HZBG)) and one forest park (Wild Elephant Valley Park (WEVP)), located in the same area as XTBG, and we explored how the public’s function recognition and image perception differed. The main results were as follows: (1) For both XTBG and HZBG, visitors showed their significant acceptance of the statements that “BG is a place for germplasm collection and preservation”, “BG is a place to enhance public environmental awareness”, “BG is a professional agency for biodiversity conservation”. For XTBG as a research botanical garden, the statements for “XTBG is a research institution” and “XTBG is a place providing professional training” were also supported by the interviewees; (2) XTBG and WEVP showed differences in most descriptors of the function recognition; (3) All the three sites were recognized as “fresh air and pleasant environment”, “experience unique animals and plants”, “beautiful landscape”, “enjoy nature”. Furthermore, for the statement “It is a place for improving scientific knowledge” received the highest support at XTBG and the least support at WEVP. The study provides relevant information for improving BGs’ public image and enhances their educational function for biodiversity conservation.

Key words: questionnaire, botanical garden, public education, biodiversity conservation, forest park, Likert Five-point Scale