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DNA From Oaks and Other Hard-Mast Trees Reached 68% of Wild Boar Dietary Reads in Winter

Feral hogs in a grassy field at Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas
Research · Ecology

A DNA metabarcoding study of wild boar (Sus scrofa) at Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arkansas, USA found pronounced seasonal changes in diet. Researchers collected 100 fecal samples during 2023, with 25 samples from each of four seasonal periods. DNA metabarcoding reads short marker sequences from the mixture in a fecal sample and compares them with reference sequences, allowing many dietary taxa to be identified from the same sample.

Plant material dominated the diet. The researchers detected at least 74 plant families and 106 genera, while oaks and related hard-mast trees in the family Fagaceae, grasses in Poaceae and plants in Asteraceae together accounted for more than half of the dietary detections. Fagaceae alone represented 38% of relative read abundance across the year and occurred in 79% of samples. Relative read abundance is the share of DNA sequence reads assigned to a food group, whereas occurrence describes how many fecal samples contained that group. It is a molecular measure, not a direct estimate of the biomass, number of food items or calories consumed.

Winter diet shifted strongly toward hard mast

The strongest seasonal shift was between herbaceous plants and DNA assigned to hard-mast trees such as oaks. This group represented 11% of relative read abundance in spring and 25% in summer, rising to 53% in autumn and 68% in winter. Forbs showed the opposite pattern, peaking at 59% in spring and falling to 11% in winter. Dietary diversity was highest in spring and lowest in winter.

Vertebrate DNA was also detected

DNA from 23 vertebrate species was also detected, including mammals, birds, fish, frogs and turtles. Vertebrate material accounted for about 17% of relative read abundance, while plant DNA made up the large majority. The molecular data could not show whether vertebrate material came from direct predation, scavenging or other routes of ingestion. The authors nevertheless concluded that wild pigs were not an important predator of wildlife in this bottomland hardwood system. They note that the study did not test for invertebrate consumption, and DNA metabarcoding could not determine which part of a plant — such as an acorn, sapling, leaf or root — had been eaten.

Sources and image credit

  1. Wilson, K. C., Chiavacci, S. J., Roberts, C. P., & DeGregorio, B. A. (2026). Seasonal variation in wild pig (Sus scrofa) diet revealed by DNA metabarcoding. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 50(1), e70019. https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.70019Primary peer-reviewed article first published 4 February 2026 and available under CC BY 4.0. DNA metabarcoding was applied to 100 fecal samples from Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas, with 25 samples from each seasonal period.
  2. U.S. Geological Survey. (2026, February 4). Seasonal variation in wild pig (Sus scrofa) diet revealed by DNA metabarcoding.Official USGS publication record confirming the publication date, authors, DOI, journal and Arkansas study area.

Image: Big Lake NWR / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — feral hogs (Sus scrofa) in a grassy field at Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas, USA. Illustrative photograph from Arkansas, not from the Felsenthal diet study. · Public Domain — https://www.fws.gov/media/feral-hogs-field · Source

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