Termites eat dead plant material, so the nutrients in the plants are returned to the soil. There are numerous other insect groups that make their living on decaying organic matter. Insects pollinate flowers. The deciduous and citrus fruit industries depend upon honeybees to pollinate flowers on fruit trees and without this pollination we would have no fruit. Bees, beetles and other insects are also essential in the pollination of most wild flowers.
Insects provide food to other animals.
Birds such as robins, white-eyes and warblers feed mainly on insects. Antbears and pangolins have become specialists in feeding on ants and termites. Insects control weeds. Leaf, wood and seed-feeding insects prevent particular plant species from taking over the land surface and becoming weeds. A plant often becomes a weed when it is introduced to a foreign country without the insects that feed on it.