Radians and degrees are both units used for measuring angles.
A degree is a measure of angle equal to 1/360th of a revolution, or circle.
A radian is the measurement of angle equal to the length of an arc divided by the radius of the circle or arc.
A circle is comprised of 2*pi radians, which is the equivalent of 360 degrees.
A common application in ecological studies is the conversion of measured exposition (in degrees) of plots into statistically meaningful measures, such as the north value or the east value.
For this, the cosine (for northness) or sine (for eastness) is applied to the radian of the exposition.