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Termites are detritivores, consuming dead plants in any level of decomposition. They also play a very important role in the ecosystem by recycling waste material such as dead wood, faeces and plants.8182 Many species consume cellulose, having a specialised midgut that breaks down the fibre.83 Termites are considered to be a significant source (11 percent ) of atmospheric methane, one of the prime greenhouse gases, produced from the breakdown of cellulose.84 Termites rely primarily upon symbiotic protozoa (metamonads) and other microbes like flagellate protists in their guts to digest the cellulose to them, allowing them to absorb the end products for their own use.8586 Gut protozoa, such as Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their surfaces to create a number of the necessary intestinal enzymes.

The flagellates have been dropped in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite digestive tract and the microbial endosymbionts is still rudimentary; what is true in all termite species, however, is that the workers feed the different members of their colony together with substances derived from the digestion of plant material, either from the mouth or anus.54 Judging from closely related bacterial species, it's strongly presumed that the termites' and cockroach's gut microbiota derives from their dictyopteran ancestors.90.

Certain species such as Gnathamitermes tubiformans have seasonal food habits. By way of instance, they may preferentially consume Red three-awn (Aristida longiseta) during the summer, Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides) from May to August, and blue grama Bouteloua gracilis during spring, summer and autumn. Colonies of G. tubiformans consume less food in spring than they perform during autumn when their feeding activity is high.91.

Various forests differ in their susceptibility to termite attack; the differences are attributed to such factors as moisture content, hardness, and resin and lignin content. In one study, the drywood termite Cryptotermes brevis strongly preferred poplar and maple woods to other forests which were generally rejected from the termite colony.

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Some species of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain that a"garden" of specialised fungi of genus Termitomyces, which are nourished from the excrement of the insects. When the fungi are eaten, their spores pass undamaged through the intestines of their termites to complete the cycle by germinating in the fresh faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the household Macrotermitinae developed agriculture roughly her latest blog 31 million years back.

Originally living in the rainforest, fungus farming enabled them to colonise the African savannah and other new environments, eventually expanding into Asia.95.

Depending on their feeding habits, termites are placed into two classes: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower termites predominately feed on wood. As wood have a peek here is difficult to digest, termites want to consume fungus-infected timber because it is a lot easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the higher termites consume a wide variety of substances, including faeces, humus, grass, leaves and roots.96 The intestine in the lower termites contains many species of bacteria along with protozoa, whereas the greater termites only have a few species of bacteria with no protozoa.97.

Termites are consumed by a vast array of predators. One termite species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, was found in the stomach contents of 65 creatures and 19 mammals.98 Arthropods like ants,99100 centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders,101 reptiles like lizards,102 and amphibians like frogs103 and toads consume termites, together with 2 spiders in the household Ammoxenidae being specialist termite predators.104106 Other predators include aardvarks, aardwolves, anteaters, bats, bears, bilbies, many birds, echidnas, foxes, galagos, numbats, mice and pangolins.104107108109 The aardwolf is an insectivorous mammal that primarily feeds on termites; it finds its food by sound and by detecting the scent secreted by the soldiers; a single aardwolf is capable of consuming thousands of termites in a single night by using its long, sticky tongue.110111 Sloth bears break open mounds to consume the nestmates, while chimpanzees have grown tools to"fish" termites from their nest.

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Among all predators, ants will be the greatest enemy to termites.99100 Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. For example, read this Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding actions, some lasting several hours.113114 Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, together with every individual stacking as many termites as possible in its mandibles before returning home, all of the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding website through chemical paths.99 The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata utilizes a different approach of termite hunting by pressing themselves into tight spaces, since they hunt through rotting wood housing termite colonies.

A scout recruits 1030 workers to an area where termites are present, killing them by immobilising them with their stinger.115 Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies sometimes nest in termite mounds, and so the termites are preyed on by these ants. No evidence for any kind of relationship (other than a one) is known.116117 Other ants, including Acanthostichus, Camponotus, Crematogaster, Cylindromyrmex, Leptogenys, Odontomachus, Ophthalmopone, Pachycondyla, Rhytidoponera, Solenopsis and Wasmannia, also prey on termites.10799118 In contrast to each of these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.