The impact of visitors on the habitat and wildlife of Killarney National Park is to be surveyed by the National Parks and Wildlife Services with the assistance of a Dutch university.
An agreement has been signed by Killarney National Park and the In Holland University in Delft on research into sustainable tourism, said national parks services divisional manager Paddy O'Sullivan.
Conservationists and wildlife officers with the national park have been concerned about the concentration of visitors, particularly walkers, in a few areas of the 25,000-acre park. Mountain and quad bikes are also damaging sensitive peat uplands.
There is concern too about traffic and visitor management in the Muckross House area where hundreds of thousands congregate during the summer. There has also been an increase in vandalism.
The national park includes mountain, bog and river catchments. Its many prized species include red deer, otters, pine martens, red squirrels, Irish hares and several species of bats
The peregrine falcon and the hen harrier are among its 140 bird species. Several rare fish species, including the Arctic char, are to be found in its lakes. Rare plants include orchids, the Killarney fern and the pillwort. However, the number of visitors, conservatively estimated at one million, is not controlled.
The five-year management plan has highlighted the need to tackle erosion caused by walkers and by sheep. New boardwalk and stone paths are being laid in the areas of Torc and Mangerton mountains where hillwalking is damaging sensitive peat lands.
Students from the Dutch university will carry out research in at least four locations at intervals during a 12-month period.