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Termites are detritivores, consuming dead plants at any degree of decomposition. They also play a vital role in the ecosystem by recycling waste material like 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, generated from the breakdown of cellulose.84 Termites depend mainly upon symbiotic protozoa (metamonads) and other microbes such as 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 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 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 from 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. By way of instance, they may preferentially consume Red three-awn (Aristida longiseta) during the summer, 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 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 forests 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 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 finish the cycle by germinating in the new faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture roughly 31 million years 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 placed into two classes: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower termites predominately feed on wood. As wood isn't easy to digest, termites want to consume fungus-infected timber because it is 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 intestine in the lower termites contains many species of bacteria along reference 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, has been found in the stomach contents of 65 birds and 19 mammals.98 Arthropods such as 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 two 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 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, while chimpanzees have grown tools to"fish" termites in their nest.

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Among all predators, ants are 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 actions, some lasting several hours.113114 Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, together with every individual stacking as many termites 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 discover this 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 employees to an area where termites are present, killing them by immobilising them using their stinger.115 Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies sometimes nest in termite mounds, and thus 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 to each of these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.