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Termites are detritivores, consuming dead plants in any degree of decomposition. They also play a very important role in the ecosystem by recycling waste material like 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 major source (11%) of atmospheric methane, one of the prime greenhouse gases, produced from the breakdown of cellulose.84 Termites depend mainly upon symbiotic protozoa (metamonads) and other microbes such as flagellate protists in their bowels 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 some of the necessary digestive enzymes.

The flagellates have been dropped in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite gastrointestinal tract and also the microbial endosymbionts remains rudimentary; what's true in all termite species, however, is that the employees feed the different members of the colony 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 like Gnathamitermes tubiformans have seasonal food habits. By way of 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 forests 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 forests to other woods which were generally rejected by 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 by the excrement of these insects. When the fungi are eaten, their spores pass undamaged through the intestines of their termites to finish the cycle by germinating in the new faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture roughly 31 million decades 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 put into two classes: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower vases predominately feed on wood. As wood isn't easy to digest, termites want to consume fungus-infected wood since it's easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the higher termites consume a vast array of substances, including faeces, humus, grass, leaves and roots.96 The gut in the lower weeds 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 wide variety 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 such as frogs103 and toads consume termites, together with two lions 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 mostly feeds on click this link termites; it locates its own foods by sound and also by detecting the scent secreted by the soldiers; a single aardwolf is effective at 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 developed resources 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 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 prior to returning home, all of the while recruiting additional nestmates into the raiding this post site through chemical trails.99 The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata uses a different strategy of termite hunting by pressing themselves into tight spaces, since 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 using their stinger.115 Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies occasionally nest in termite mounds, and thus the termites are preyed on by those 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 all these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.