Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis

The world’s largest terrestrial mammal, Asian elephants are known to have enormous feeding needs. Several factors such as season, sex, age, and daily activities of elephants influence the amount of food required by an individual. Generally, captive elephants have a limited choice of food on a daily...

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Main Authors: Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi, Kayal Vizi Karuppannan, Nor Hafisa Syafina Mohd-Radzi, Millawati Gani, Abd Rahman Mohd-Ridwan, Nursyuhada Othman, Hidayah Haris, Nur Hartini Sariyati, Nor Aifat A. Rahman, Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff, Mohd Firdaus Ariff Abdul-Razak, Badrul Munir Md-Zain
Format: Article
Language:en
Published: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan 2022
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Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35548/1/FULL%20TEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35548/
https://doi.org/10.6620/ZS.2022.61-60
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author Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi
Kayal Vizi Karuppannan
Nor Hafisa Syafina Mohd-Radzi
Millawati Gani
Abd Rahman Mohd-Ridwan
Nursyuhada Othman
Hidayah Haris
Nur Hartini Sariyati
Nor Aifat A. Rahman
Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff
Mohd Firdaus Ariff Abdul-Razak
Badrul Munir Md-Zain
author_facet Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi
Kayal Vizi Karuppannan
Nor Hafisa Syafina Mohd-Radzi
Millawati Gani
Abd Rahman Mohd-Ridwan
Nursyuhada Othman
Hidayah Haris
Nur Hartini Sariyati
Nor Aifat A. Rahman
Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff
Mohd Firdaus Ariff Abdul-Razak
Badrul Munir Md-Zain
author_sort Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi
building UMS Library
collection Institutional Repository
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sabah
content_source UMS Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
description The world’s largest terrestrial mammal, Asian elephants are known to have enormous feeding needs. Several factors such as season, sex, age, and daily activities of elephants influence the amount of food required by an individual. Generally, captive elephants have a limited choice of food on a daily basis compared with that of elephants in the wild. Elephants in captivity are fed according to a prepared feeding schedule, whereas wild elephants are free to choose the type of plants that they consume in their natural habitat. In the past, ecological observations have been widely used to determine the diet of wild elephants. However, the molecular approach was never been carried out. In the present study, the aim was to; 1) identify the plant diet of wild Asian elephants in Taman Negara National Park (TNNP) according to their sex and age using high-throughput DNA metabarcoding 2) determine the dietary formulation of captive elephants based on the generated plant metabarcoding database. DNA was extracted from 24 individual fecal samples collected using noninvasive sampling techniques from TNNP and the National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) Kuala Gandah. Seven pooled samples comprising of male adult, female adult, male subadult, female subadult, male juvenile, female juvenile, and captive elephant were amplified and sequenced targeting the trnL region (50–150 base pairs). The CLC Genomic Workbench and PAST 4.02 software were used for data analysis. In total, 24 orders, 41 families, 233 genera, and 306 species of plants were successfully detected in the diet of the Asian elephants. The most abundant plant genera consumed were Sporobolus (21.88%), Musa (21.48%), and Ficus (10.80%). Plant variation was lower in samples from male elephants than in those from female elephants. The plant species identified were correlated with the nutrient benefits required by elephants. Besides, adults and subadults consumed more plant species than were consumed by juvenile elephants. However, there are no significant difference between ages and the two sexes. The findings of this study can be used as guidance by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks for the management of captive elephants, especially in NECC Kuala Gandah.
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publisher Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
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spelling my.ums.eprints-355482025-05-22T03:14:37Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35548/ Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi Kayal Vizi Karuppannan Nor Hafisa Syafina Mohd-Radzi Millawati Gani Abd Rahman Mohd-Ridwan Nursyuhada Othman Hidayah Haris Nur Hartini Sariyati Nor Aifat A. Rahman Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff Mohd Firdaus Ariff Abdul-Razak Badrul Munir Md-Zain QL700-739.8 Mammals SF408-408.6 Zoo animals The world’s largest terrestrial mammal, Asian elephants are known to have enormous feeding needs. Several factors such as season, sex, age, and daily activities of elephants influence the amount of food required by an individual. Generally, captive elephants have a limited choice of food on a daily basis compared with that of elephants in the wild. Elephants in captivity are fed according to a prepared feeding schedule, whereas wild elephants are free to choose the type of plants that they consume in their natural habitat. In the past, ecological observations have been widely used to determine the diet of wild elephants. However, the molecular approach was never been carried out. In the present study, the aim was to; 1) identify the plant diet of wild Asian elephants in Taman Negara National Park (TNNP) according to their sex and age using high-throughput DNA metabarcoding 2) determine the dietary formulation of captive elephants based on the generated plant metabarcoding database. DNA was extracted from 24 individual fecal samples collected using noninvasive sampling techniques from TNNP and the National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) Kuala Gandah. Seven pooled samples comprising of male adult, female adult, male subadult, female subadult, male juvenile, female juvenile, and captive elephant were amplified and sequenced targeting the trnL region (50–150 base pairs). The CLC Genomic Workbench and PAST 4.02 software were used for data analysis. In total, 24 orders, 41 families, 233 genera, and 306 species of plants were successfully detected in the diet of the Asian elephants. The most abundant plant genera consumed were Sporobolus (21.88%), Musa (21.48%), and Ficus (10.80%). Plant variation was lower in samples from male elephants than in those from female elephants. The plant species identified were correlated with the nutrient benefits required by elephants. Besides, adults and subadults consumed more plant species than were consumed by juvenile elephants. However, there are no significant difference between ages and the two sexes. The findings of this study can be used as guidance by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks for the management of captive elephants, especially in NECC Kuala Gandah. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan 2022 Article NonPeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35548/1/FULL%20TEXT.pdf Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi and Kayal Vizi Karuppannan and Nor Hafisa Syafina Mohd-Radzi and Millawati Gani and Abd Rahman Mohd-Ridwan and Nursyuhada Othman and Hidayah Haris and Nur Hartini Sariyati and Nor Aifat A. Rahman and Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff and Mohd Firdaus Ariff Abdul-Razak and Badrul Munir Md-Zain (2022) Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis. Zoological Studies, 61. pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.6620/ZS.2022.61-60
spellingShingle QL700-739.8 Mammals
SF408-408.6 Zoo animals
Nurfatiha Akmal Fawwazah Abdullah-Fauzi
Kayal Vizi Karuppannan
Nor Hafisa Syafina Mohd-Radzi
Millawati Gani
Abd Rahman Mohd-Ridwan
Nursyuhada Othman
Hidayah Haris
Nur Hartini Sariyati
Nor Aifat A. Rahman
Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff
Mohd Firdaus Ariff Abdul-Razak
Badrul Munir Md-Zain
Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis
title Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis
title_full Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis
title_fullStr Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis
title_short Determining the dietary preferences of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia based on sex and age using trnL DNA Metabarcoding Analysis
title_sort determining the dietary preferences of wild asian elephants (elephas maximus) in taman negara national park, malaysia based on sex and age using trnl dna metabarcoding analysis
topic QL700-739.8 Mammals
SF408-408.6 Zoo animals
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35548/1/FULL%20TEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35548/
https://doi.org/10.6620/ZS.2022.61-60
url_provider http://eprints.ums.edu.my/