EUROPARC ATS Scholar Zerrin KARARSLAN will make study visits to National Parks in Spain (Doñana National Park and Sierra de Guadarrama National Park) and Germany (Bayerischer Wald National Park).
The purposes of study visits will be;
•To see the best practices of ecological restoration in protected area and understand the philosophy of the ecological restoration approach at European protected areas
•To learn and evaluate benefits of ecological restoration on protected areas as means of ecosystem health and human health,
•To offer gained experience as an intention for restoration of degraded ecosystems in Turkey.

Methodology:
As a means of ecosystem health key indicators (like composition of flora and fauna; species diversity, biomass; primary production; proportion of exotic species etc.) for different kinds of ecosystems will be specified. Effects of restoration on these indicators will be specified according to the face to face meeting and field studies with national park managers during the study visits. Also questionnaires will be applied with visitor for specifying effects of restoration on human health. Visitor questionnaires will be configured to evaluate effects of protected areas both mental and also physical health of visitor. Besides visitor they will be applied also local people for specify the effects of protected areas on their wellbeing and welfare. These questions will be prepared as a meaning of ecosystem services that provided by different ecosystems types.