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A fundamental goal of ecological network research is to understand how the complexity observed in nature can persist and how this affects ecosystem functioning. This is essential for us to be able to predict, and eventually mitigate, the consequences of increasing environmental perturbations such as habitat loss, climate change, and invasions of exotic species.

Ecological networks can be subdivided into three broad types: ‘traditional’ food webs, mutualistic networks and host–parasitoid networks. There is a recent trend towards cross‐comparisons among network types and also to take a more mechanistic, as opposed to phenomenological, perspective. For example, analysis of network configurations, such as compartments, allows us to explore the role of co‐evolution in structuring mutualistic networks and host–parasitoid networks, and of body size in food webs.

Research into ecological networks has …