Mastotermes darwiniensis is usually not very numerous, nor are the colonies large when left to natural conditions. However, when given abundant water (such as regular irrigation) and favourable food and soil conditions (such as stored timber or timber structures), populations can be enormous, numbering in the millions, quickly destroying their host. Its diet is varied, as it will eat introduced plants, damaged ivory and leather, and wood and debris, and in fact almost anything organic. It becomes a major agricultural pest, to the extent that vegetable farming has been virtually abandoned in Northern AustraliaHill, G.F., (1942) Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. H.E. Daw, Govt. Printer, Melbourne, Austr. wherever this termite is numerous, which it is outside of the rain forest or bauxite soils.Brittan EB et al. (30 authors) (1970) The Insects of Australia. Melbourne University Press. p. 285 It has developed the ability to bore up into a living tree and ring bark it such that it dies and becomes the center of a colony.
