Karuppannan, Kayal Vizi, Ariff Abdul Razak, Mohd Firdaus, Diyana Ahmad Tahir, Nurul Farah, Rosli, Norsyamimi Rosli, Yaakop, Salmah, and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2019. "Influence Of Asian Elephant Dung Decay on DNA Recovery." Journal of Sustainability Science and Management, 14, (5) 175–181.
Evaluation on Asian elephant dung decay rate affecting the yield of DNA was carried out in National Elephant Conservation Center (NECC) Kuala Gandah, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. The attempt is intended to optimise the current field DNA sampling method. Two distinguished environmental sites of dung piles were sampled; direct sunlight exposures and under shades of voluminous tree canopies. Dung piles of Sanum, a cow; and Rajah, a bull were being tested. Results showed that the environmental factors of sample sources have not affected the purity of DNA. Nonetheless, the DNA quantity varies between both study sites samples. The average of DNA concentration amongst the shady area samples was 7.6 ng/μL, whereby in sunny area the concentration was lower at 6.0 ng/μL. It is showed that better quantity of DNA are related to dung decay rates where faecal samples with direct sunlight will degrade faster compared to shady areas covered by canopies. This outcome contributes a supporting data for non-invasive field DNA sampling on Asian elephants.
