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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 such as dead wood, faeces and plants.8182 Many species eat cellulose, having a specialised midgut that divides down the fiber.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 depend mainly upon symbiotic protozoa (metamonads) and other microbes like 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, such as Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their own decks to produce a number of the necessary digestive enzymes.

The flagellates have been lost in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite digestive tract and also the microbial endosymbionts remains rudimentary; what's true in all termite species, however, is that the employees feed the other members of the 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 assumed 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 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 varieties of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain a"garden" of specialised fungi of genus Termitomyces, that can be nourished by the excrement of these insects. When the fungi are eaten, their spores pass undamaged through the intestines of the termites to finish the cycle by germinating in the fresh faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the household Macrotermitinae developed more tips here 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 vases predominately feed on wood. As wood isn't easy to digest, termites prefer to consume fungus-infected timber because it is easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the bigger termites consume a wide variety 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 higher termites only have a few species of bacteria with no protozoa.97. helpful resources

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 like ants,99100 centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders,101 reptiles like lizards,102 and amphibians such as frogs103 and toads consume termites, together with 2 lions in the family 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 finds its own food by sound and also by detecting the scent secreted from 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 developed tools to"fish" termites in 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 instance, Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding actions, some lasting a few 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 of the while recruiting additional nestmates into the raiding website through chemical paths.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 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 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 all these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.