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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 timber, faeces and plants.8182 Many species consume cellulose, having a specialised midgut that divides down the fibre.83 Termites are considered to be a major 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 germs like 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 own decks to produce some of the necessary intestinal enzymes.

The flagellates have been lost in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite digestive tract and the microbial endosymbionts is still rudimentary; what is true in all termite species, however, is that the employees feed the other members of their colony together 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 habits. 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 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 forests to other woods that were generally rejected by the termite colony.

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Some varieties of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain a"garden" of specialised fungi of genus Termitomyces, which 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 new faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture roughly 31 million years back.

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 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 prefer to consume fungus-infected timber because it is a lot 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 termites 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 like ants,99100 centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders,101 reptiles Source like lizards,102 and amphibians such as frogs103 and toads consume termites, with two 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 locates its food by sound and 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 grown resources 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 example, Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding activities, some lasting several hours.113114 Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, with every individual stacking as many fleas as possible in its mandibles prior my review here 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 approach 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 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 all these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.