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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 timber, faeces and plants.8182 Many species consume cellulose, having a specialised midgut that divides down the fiber.83 Termites are considered to be a significant source (11%) 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 germs 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, for example Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their own decks to produce a number of the necessary intestinal enzymes.

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

Certain species like 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.

Numerous 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 that were generally rejected from the termite colony.

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Some varieties of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain that a"garden" of specialised fungi of genus Termitomyces, which 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 the cycle by germinating in the fresh faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture roughly 31 million decades ago.

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 groups: the lower termites and higher termites. The reduced termites predominately feed on timber. As wood is difficult 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 materials, including faeces, humus, bud, leaves and roots.96 The gut in the lower termites contains many go to this website 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 such as frogs103 and toads consume termites, 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 primarily feeds on termites; it finds its own foods by sound and 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 resources to"fish" termites in their nest.

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Among all predators, ants will this page 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 activities, 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 the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding website through chemical trails.99 The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata uses a different approach 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 using their stinger.115 Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies occasionally nest in termite mounds, and so the termites are preyed on by these ants. No evidence for any kind of relationship (other than a 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, official statement and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.