Section Three: Ecology

Gymnura range in size from a mouse to that of a small rabbit. The Moon Rat for this paper is located throughout S. E. Asia, Eurasia, and the jungles of Africa. The closest relative is the hedgehog which utilizes spines as its primary defense. The Moon Rat however doesn’t have the spines, but instead depends on the emitting of a powerful and foul odor to evade predators. The Moon Rat has also developed an immunity to snake venom. The Moon Rat burrows under logs or in the ground and are only active during the day. The Moon Rat primarily eats insects but also eats invertebrates, reptiles, roots and fruits. (Internet Source 1).

Because the distribution of the Moon Rat is totally jungle forests, the animal reproduction isn’t limited due to food availability. The jungle forests has an abundance of insects, fruits, berries and small reptiles for the animals food supply. The animal has 1 to 2 breeding cycles per year and produce only 3 or 4 offspring per cycle.(Internet source 1).

Due to the diverse diet and habitats of the Moon Rat, I think that it is obvious that the species is density independent and a mixture of both K and R populations. They are opportunistic in how they can consume food that is made available through may different sources. They have an almost inexhaustible food supply due to the high birth rates of most insects. The geographical conditions that limit the distribution of the Moon Rat are relatively simple. The limiting factors are climate and the reaching of the forests.

The Moon Rat lives in the jungle and the forests due the mild climate changes that come with the changes of the seasons. In the jungle ecosystem they consume the larger insects that are damaging to many of the plant species that thrive in the jungles. They also consume small lizards along with fruits and berries, which will help keep the reptile populations down and help spread the seeds for the plants.(Internet source 2).

Because of the resistance to snake venom the Moon Rat probably is able to get away from most slow moving reptiles. Also the foul smell probably protects them from all except the most hungry or desperate of animals. Because of the limited predators of the Moon Rat they should be considered secondary ingestors. They also consume the primary consumers, the insects.

Army ants are found world wide however the army ants we are concerned with are found throughout Asia and Africa. The ants reproduce in mass quantities do to the high predator losses and high losses while foraging, attacking and defending their mounds. (Book source 1).

Ants usually forage in mass in their surroundings up to 100 yards away. They will attack large insects small animals and even some relatively large animals. The ants many predators are other ants as well as other animals that eat insects. These ants are also found in jungle environments and help to limit the population of insects that are harmful as well beneficial to the plants such as earthworms. When the ants go hunting everything that lives is fair game to be killed and taken back to the mound in pieces to be eaten.(Book Source 1).

Ants don’t do well in cold environments, therefore warm jungle and forest areas with mild climates create the perfect environment for the ants. In Asia for example the climate is generally warm with a short usually mild winter. Therefore the climate will limit how far north they will be found as well as the vegetation will limit other areas that the ants will be located.

The ants are secondary consumers or ingestors of other animals.

Both organisms are found in the same ecosystem, but the ant doesn’t directly affect the Moon Rat, other than in competition for the same insects for food. However with the abundance and the birth rate of insects there is plenty for both, excluding any natural or human intervention such as clearing of the land or fires. If one or both organisms were to become extinct it would permit more insects to destroy plant vegetation. Which would ultimately devastate the forest.

Food web from lowest to highest:

Plants -- eaten by plant eating insects and other animals such as caterpillars and beetles -- ants eat the caterpillars and the beetles, as well as other large insects -- frogs and the Moon Rat eat the insects -- larger animals eat the frogs and other consumers of the insects and following digestion return organic matter to the soil as feces, and from the decomposing bodies for the plants to utilize for growing.

Sources:

Internet source 1- www.oit.itd.umich.edu/bio108/Chordata/Mammalia/Insectivora/Erinaceidae.html

Erinaceidae Family.

Internet Source 2-

www.oit.itd.umich.edu/bio108/Chordata/Mammalia/Insectivora.shtml- Order

Insectivora.

Book source 1-

Army Ants (William Gotwald) The Biology of Social Predation, 1995 Cornell

University.