The important role that mate choice plays in the lives of animals is matched by the large and
active research field dedicated to studying it. Researchers work on a wide range of species …

Quantifying the shape and strength of mating preferences is a vital component of the study of
sexual selection and reproductive isolation, but the influence of experimental design on …

We identify several fundamental properties of how females choose mates and propose
statistical methods to test hypotheses about them. Virtually, all studies of mate choice have …

S exual selection has been such an intensive focus of research over the past decade that
one might expect there to be a well-established answer to the question posed in our title. On …

Experiments on decision making by humans show that the choices that we make can be
very labile. The magnitude of our preferences, and even our rank ordering of options, can …

Interest in the evolution of female mating preferences has increased greatly in recent years,
and numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain how mating preferences evolve …

Animals may be careful in their choice of mates for a variety of reasons. The ideal mate may
have to hold valuable resources as well as being highly fertile or fecund. As likely as not, it …

There are compelling reasons for believing that animals should not mate indiscriminately,
but should choose their mates. Since individuals vary in their quality as potential mates, we …

Study of determinants of mate selection by animals has a long history in evolutionary biology
and behavioural ecology. However, only during the past decade have investigators begun to …

Aspects of the environment, including the social environment, can contribute to
intrapopulation variation in mating preferences. One example of the effect of social …