Abstract
Rapid changes in land-use patterns bring significant challenges to wildlife, particularly for large herbivores, such as Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Despite the impact of land-use change being widely studied globally, its effect on the dietary patterns of umbrella species, such as the Asian elephant, remains limited. Therefore, this study employed high-throughput trnL DNA metabarcoding to characterise and compare the diets of Asian elephants across two distinct landscapes: (1) northeast Peninsular Malaysia, a landscape undergoing large-scale development and logging (development-logging landscapes, DLL), and (2) southern Peninsular Malaysia, an oil palm-dominated landscape with remnant forests without major logging or land-use changes (oil palm-forest landscapes, OPFL). We analysed 60 individual faecal samples, yielding 1,737,956 high-quality sequences for the DLL and 1,454,807 for the OPFL. Analysis of frequency of occurrence (FOO) and relative read abundance (RRA) revealed a significant variation in elephant diets between the two landscapes, with the DLL exhibiting higher richness and diversity than the OPFL. This study demonstrates the dietary flexibility of Asian elephants, showing their ability to adapt to environmental changes in DLL by modifying their feeding habits according to available food resources. The findings also reveal the diet-related dimensions of human–elephant conflict across contrasting landscapes and highlight the need for strategic landscape management, including habitat restoration and ecological corridors, to reduce conflict and support long-term conservation.
Data availability
The data supporting the findings of this study have been deposited in the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) and are publicly available at the following DOI: (https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/doi:10.5063/F15X27DB) . All relevant data are included within the article. Additional materials are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) Peninsular Malaysia for granting the research permit (JPHLTN.600-6/1/4JLD4(08)) to conduct this study. We also thank Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research (TNBR) for funding this research, under grant code ST-2022-019. We are also grateful to the PERHILITAN staff for their invaluable field assistance.
Funding
This research was funded by Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research (TNBR), Grant number ST-2022-019.
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N.B. conducted field sampling, performed laboratory work and bioinformatics analyses, analysed the data, and drafted the manuscript. M.S.M. conceptualised the study, provided ecological expertise, supervised the research, and secured funding. N.B. and M.S.M. revised and finalised the manuscript. N.A.I., U.N.S.D., and M.I.M.J. assisted with sample collection. N.F.N.A. contributed to the bioinformatics analyses. M.F.A.Y., A.M.S., and S.M.N. managed project administration and secured funding. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Batrisyia, N., Arazmi, N.F.N., Jamaluddin, M.I.M. et al. Changing landscapes drive dietary diversification in Asian elephants. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41675-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41675-0
