Abstract
This chapter focuses on the most direct links between social odors and reproduction, i.e., the effects of pheromones on reproductive physiology and behavior. The depth and breadth of the existing literature on pheromones and reproduction preclude the review of pheromone-influenced behaviors or physiological processes that are further removed from copulation. Many mammalian species, especially nocturnal animals, use pheromonal signals to coordinate reproduction by altering the physiology and behavior of both sexes. Pheromones can prime reproductive physiology so that individuals become sexually mature and active at times when mating is most probable and suppress it when it is not. Once in reproductive condition, odor cues produced and deposited by both males and females are used to find and select individuals for mating. In most cases, the production, dissemination, and appropriate responses to these social odors are modulated heavily by gonadal sex steroids, which thereby link pheromonal communication with the broader reproductive context.
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