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

The flagellates have been lost in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite gastrointestinal tract and the microbial endosymbionts is still rudimentary; what's true in most termite species, however, is that the workers feed the other members of their colony together with substances derived from the digestion of plant material, either in the mouth or anus.54 Judging from closely related bacterial species, it is 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 customs. For instance, they might preferentially consume Red three-awn (Aristida longiseta) during the summertime, 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 woods differ in their susceptibility to termite attack; the differences are attributed to these 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 woods which were generally rejected from the termite colony.

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

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

Depending on their feeding habits, termites are put into two classes: the lower termites and higher termites. The reduced termites predominately feed on timber. As wood isn't easy 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 bigger termites consume a vast array of substances, including faeces, humus, bud, leaves and roots.96 The intestine in the lower termites contains many species of bacteria along with protozoa, while the greater termites only have a few species of bacteria with no protozoa.97.

Termites are consumed by a huge array of predators. One termite species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, has been found in the stomach contents of 65 birds and 19 mammals.98 Arthropods such as ants,99100 centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders,101 reptiles such as lizards,102 and amphibians like frogs103 and toads consume termites, with two 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 own foods by sound and also 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, whereas chimpanzees have grown tools to"fish" termites from their nest.

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Among most predators, ants will be the best enemy to termites.99100 Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. By way of instance, Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that execute raiding activities, some lasting several hours.113114 Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, with each individual stacking as many fleas as possible in its mandibles before returning home, all the while recruiting additional nestmates into the raiding site through chemical trails.99 The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata utilizes a different strategy of termite hunting by pressing themselves into tight spaces, as they hunt through rotting wood housing termite colonies.

A scout recruits 1030 employees to an area where termites are present, killing them by immobilising them pop over to this site using their stinger.115 Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies occasionally nest in termite mounds, and thus the termites are preyed on by these ants. No evidence for any kind of relationship (other than the usual 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.