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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 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 such as 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, for example Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their surfaces to produce some of the necessary intestinal enzymes.

The flagellates have been dropped in Termitidae.878889 Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite digestive tract and the microbial endosymbionts remains rudimentary; what's true in all termite species, however, is that the workers feed the different 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 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. For 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.

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 walnut forests to other woods that were generally rejected from the termite colony.

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Some species of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain that 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 finish the cycle by germinating in the fresh faecal pellets.9394 Molecular evidence suggests that the household 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 termites predominately feed on wood. As wood is difficult to digest, termites want to consume fungus-infected wood because it is a lot easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the higher termites consume a wide variety of materials, 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 like it by a huge array of predators. One termite species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, was found in the stomach contents of 65 birds and 19 mammals.98 Arthropods like ants,99100 index centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders,101 reptiles like lizards,102 and amphibians like frogs103 and toads consume termites, with two spiders 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 effective at 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 developed tools to"fish" termites from their nest.

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Among all predators, ants will be the best enemy to termites.99100 Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. By way of example, Megaponera is a rigorously termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding activities, some lasting several hours.113114 Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, together with every individual stacking as many fleas as possible in its mandibles before returning home, all the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding site through chemical paths.99 The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata uses a different strategy 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 from this source area where termites are present, killing them by immobilising them with 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 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 all these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites.119.