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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 divides down the fibre.83 Termites are considered to be a significant 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 to their own use.8586 Gut protozoa, for example Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their surfaces to produce a number of the necessary digestive enzymes.

The flagellates have been dropped in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite digestive tract and the microbial endosymbionts remains rudimentary; what's true in all termite species, however, is that the employees feed the different members of their colony 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 the termites' and cockroach's gut microbiota derives from their dictyopteran ancestors.90.

Certain species such as Gnathamitermes tubiformans have seasonal food customs. By way of example, they may 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 walnut woods to other forests that were generally rejected by the termite colony.

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Some species of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain that a"garden" of specialised fungi of genus Termitomyces, that can be nourished by 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 family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture about 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 groups: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower termites predominately feed on timber. As wood is difficult to digest, termites want to consume fungus-infected wood since it's a lot easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the higher termites consume a wide variety of materials, including faeces, humus, grass, leaves and roots.96 The gut 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 variety 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 such as lizards,102 and amphibians like frogs103 and toads consume termites, with 2 spiders in the family Ammoxenidae being professional 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 food 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 grown tools to"fish" termites from their nest.

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Among all predators, ants are the best enemy to termites.99100 Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. By way of example, Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that execute raiding actions, some lasting several hours.113114 Paltothyreus go to my site tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, with each individual stacking as many termites as possible in its mandibles prior to returning home, all of the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding website 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 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 thus the termites are preyed on by those ants. No evidence for any kind of relationship (other than the usual predatory 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.