In response to a letter dated 7th November 2007, from the President, Yekkaru Grama Panchayat, Mangalore taluk, inventory and mapping of biodiversity was undertaken on 12-14th November 2007 in Permude, Tenka Yekkaru, Delanthabettu and Kuttethuru villages, to understand the ecological importance of the region considering its proximity to the Western Ghats, one of the eight hottest biodiversity hotspots of the world (http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity). Opportunistic and all out search methods of flora and fauna were carried out for this study. Local residents were also consulted for mammal inventory, apart from our study. Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with various landscapes viz., wetlands, rivers, streams, paddy fields, forests, soppina betta (haadi), scrub jungle and sacred grooves were considered in this study. Sampling sites are listed in Table 1 and Figure 1. Landscape elements are depicted in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively.

Table 1. Sampling sites

Figure 1. Google earth scene of the study locality
(Source: http://www. googleearth.com, accessed on 20th November 2007)