Diet composition of the Korean wild boar Sus scrofa coreanus (Suidae) at Mt. Jeombongsan, Korea

Abstract

Background Korean wild boars (Sus scrofa coreanus Heude), because of their adaptability, are a widespread large mammal; however, they sometimes cause problems by invading farms and eating the crops, creating insufficiencies of some foods in South Korea. To understand the diet composition of Korean wild boars according to sex and body size, we collected their feces from Mt. Jeombongsan, Seoraksan National Park, South Korea. The sizes of fecal samples were measured, and genomic DNA was extracted from the samples. We amplified specific loci targeting plants (rbcL and trnL) and animals (COI) to detect the food sources of this omnivore and amplified the ZF and SRY regions to determine the sex. Results In the wild boar feces, Rosaceae and Bryophyte were the most frequently detected plant food sources at the family level and Diptera and Haplotaxida were the most frequently detected animal food sources at the order level. As a result of sex determination, the sex ratio of wild boars collected in the Mt. Jeombongsan area was approximately 1:1. Our result suggested that there is no significant difference between the diet composition of male and female boars. Based on the average cross-sectional area of the feces, the top 25% were classified into the large body size group and the bottom 25% were classified into the small body size group. The large body size group mainly preferred Actinidiaceae, and the small body size group most frequently consumed Fagaceae. The diet of the large body size group was more diverse than the small body size group. Conclusions Our results showed that the wild boars preferred Rosaceae, especially Sanguisorba and Filipendula, as plant food sources, and Diptera and Coleoptera of Insecta as animal food sources. Based on the results, the dietary preferences of wild boar appear to be distinguished by not their sex but their body size. Our study could help to elucidate the feeding ecology and population structure of wild boar, as well as address conservation and management issues.

Attraction of microarthropods to dung of invasive mammals in meadows of northwestern Patagonia

“…S. scrofa is considered a pest in many countries due to its feeding activities, it damages crops and could affect native communities (Ballari et al, 2014;Barrios-Garcia & Ballari, 2012;Cuevas et al, 2010;Shin et al, 2020). Its diet consists of belowground part of plants, mainly roots and bulbs and fleshy fruit and aboveground green plant material as well as worms (Baubet et al, 2004).…”

An experimental design for obtaining DNA of a target species and its diet from a single non‐invasive genetic protocol

“…Angom et al., 2020 ; Modi et al., 2021 ; Ramón‐Laca et al., 2015 ), and this protocol's extraction method has also been separately used in studies on species diet (e.g. Bhattacharyya et al., 2019 ; Galan et al., 2018 ; Guo et al., 2018 ; Shin et al., 2020 ). Protocol B (Qiagen Mobio Powersoil Kit, part of Protocol B) has been extensively used for recovering environmental DNA for dietary analysis (e.g.…”

“…This trend has also continued in the majority of recent molecular scatology studies that have started to combine questions on the target species itself (gene flow, inbreeding, sex ratio and dispersal patterns) with questions regarding their diet (e.g. Abdullah‐Fauzi et al., 2022 ; Bison et al., 2015 ; Buglione et al., 2018 ; Jesmer et al., 2020 ; Shi et al., 2021 ; Shin et al., 2020 ) although a recent study has demonstrated utilities of one single protocol (de Flamming et al., 2023). The collection, processing and extraction of faecal samples for target species studies often revolve around collecting samples and storing them in either −20°C conditions or in a storage medium such as ethanol, silica beads or RNAlater solution, followed by swabbing/scraping off the outer layer and extracting DNA using stool kit‐based methods/CTAB method/phenol‐chloroform (Ball et al., 2007 ; Biswas et al., 2019 ; Paul et al., 2019 ; Ramón‐Laca et al., 2015 ; Waits & Paetkau, 2005 ).…”

“…The upper and lower boundaries of the box plot represent the maximum and minimum values, the box represents the interquartile range, and the horizontal line within the box represents the median value. The statistical significance, if present, is shown by *** or ** representing p ≤ .001 or p ≤ .01 Guo et al, 2018;Shin et al, 2020)…”