With the deterioration of agricultural ecological environment and the popularization of higher education,the environmental protection behavior of new generation college students is of great significance to the sustainable development of agricultural ecology.However,few studies have focused on the mechanism of ecological education affecting college students'environmental protection willingness,especially in the context of Covid-19.Based on the survey data of 1114 agricultural and forestry college students,this paper uses the ordered Probit model and the intermediary effect model to verify its effect and mechanism,and uses the Poisson regression model to test its robustness.The results show that:1)Ecological education can effectively promote the college student's willingness of environmental protection,and the cognition of economic value,health value and social value are the important mediating ways to ecological education.The mediating effect of economic value cognition is stronger.2)Public health risk perception positively moderates the effect of health and social value perception on college students'environmental protection behavior.3)There is a significant correlation between individual health consciousness,joining eco-environmental association and their environmental protection intention after public health event.Some suggestions are put forward,such as strengthening ecological education in colleges and universities,promoting environmental protection economy,health,social value cognition and public health risk perception.
ecological educationvalue cognitionwillingness to protect agricultural environmentpublic health risk perceptionintermediary effect