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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 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%) 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 germs like flagellate protists in their bowels to digest the cellulose to 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 own decks 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 remains 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 in 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 customs. For instance, 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 do 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 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 from the excrement of the insects. When the fungi are eaten, their spores pass undamaged through the intestines of the termites to finish check it out the cycle by germinating in the fresh faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture about 31 million years ago.

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 placed into two classes: the lower termites and higher termites. The reduced termites predominately feed on wood. As wood is difficult to digest, termites prefer 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 intestine 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 huge variety of predators. One termite species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, has been found in the stomach contents of 65 creatures and 19 mammals.98 Arthropods such as ants,99100 centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders,101 reptiles like lizards,102 and amphibians like frogs103 and toads consume termites, with 2 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 termites; it locates its foods by sound and also by detecting the scent secreted from the soldiers; a single aardwolf is capable of consuming thousands this content 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 developed tools to"fish" termites from their nest.

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Among all predators, ants are the greatest enemy to termites.99100 Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. For 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 each individual stacking as many fleas as possible in its mandibles prior to returning home, all the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding site through chemical paths.99 The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata utilizes a different approach of termite hunting by pressing themselves into tight spaces, as 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 browse around these guys to all these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.