Several million of humans still thrive in the forest of tropics and use resources therein for their livelihood. Owing to the fact that they have been with, and depending upon the forest for several centuries, it is believed that their harvesting patterns could represent a good model for sustainable use of forest resources. As of yet however, there are no identified models of such sustainable use, though rigorously sought for (Uma Shanker, et al., 1996). In this paper we report the impact of one such indigenous community on the structure and composition of the forest ecosystem using indicator species birds, butterflies (Kremen, 1992, 1994) and vegetation of a wildlife sanctuary in South lndia.

Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (77°-77°16'E and 11 °47'_12°· 9'N) is along the eastern outgrowth of Western Ghats. The sanctuary houses about 4500-odd indigenous tribes, Soligas in about 25 settlements (Ganeshaiah and Uma Shaanker, 1998) spread along the sanctuary. Soligas derive most (-70%) or their needs from the forests alone (Hegde et aI., 1996).