The effects of organisms beyond resource consumption are vital to explaining ecosystem function and structure. Previously proposed concepts to organize and understand these effects such as trait-mediated indirect interactions and ecosystem engineering have aided our efforts, but their integration is with resource-based models is non-trivial. Many of these effects can be inter-related by focusing on how matter can act as energy, material and/or information, the currencies of ecological interactions, and therefore act as both a resource and non-resource depending on the context. In this talk, we present a framework demonstrating how converting between energy, materials and information can be achieved, especially if the effects captured by these currencies are mediated by concentrations of matter. Our framework shows that the joint resource and non-resource effects of matter need to be considered if we are to understand the structure and function of our human-impacted ecosystems.