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This theme issue features 18 papers exploring ecological interactions, encompassing metabolic, social, and spatial connections alongside traditional trophic networks. This integration enriches food web research, offering insights into ecological dynamics. By examining links across organisms, populations, and ecosystems, a hierarchical approach emerges, connecting horizontal effects within organizational levels vertically across biological organization levels. The inclusion of interactions involving humans is a key focus, highlighting the need for their integration into ecology given the complex interactions between human activities and ecological systems in the Anthropocene. The comprehensive exploration in this theme issue sheds light on the interconnectedness of ecological systems and the importance of considering diverse interactions in understanding ecosystem dynamics. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions’.