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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 fiber.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 to them, allowing them to absorb the end products to their own use.8586 Gut protozoa, such as Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their own decks to create a number of the necessary digestive enzymes.
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 perform during autumn when their feeding activity is high.91.
Various woods 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 are 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 new faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture about 31 million decades 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 put into two classes: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower vases predominately feed on wood. As wood is difficult to digest, termites want to consume fungus-infected wood since it's easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the bigger termites consume a wide variety 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 higher termites only have a few species of bacteria with no protozoa.97.
Termites are consumed by a vast array of predators. One termite species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, was 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 spiders in the household 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 foods by sound and also by detecting the scent secreted from the soldiers; a single aardwolf is effective at consuming thousands of termites in a single night by using its long, sticky tongue.110111 top article Sloth bears break open mounds to consume the nestmates, while chimpanzees have grown resources to"fish" termites from their nest.
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Among most predators, ants are the greatest enemy to termites.99100 Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. For instance, Megaponera is a rigorously termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding activities, some lasting a few hours.113114 Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, with every 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 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.
