The study of alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) is a hot topic in evolutionary and behavioral ecology. ART refers to consistent variation in the reproductive behavior (involving, e.g., mating, nesting, fighting) of males or females within one population. This variation offers a special opportunity to study the evolution and functional causes of phenotypic variation, a general problem in evolutionary biology. A large body of published data exists on ARTs, but there has been no conceptual unification of the available information, nor any strong effort to integrate it into a general framework. Apart from a recent book by S. M. Shuster and M. J. Wade (2003) (Mating Systems and Strategies, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press) that addresses the topic of ARTs within the larger scope of mating systems, there has been no major publication covering this topic. Moreover, the few reviews available in the literature are taxon specific and do not fully integrate the proximate and ultimate levels of analysis in understanding ARTs. Clearly, integration of data, concepts, and analysis levels is overdue. In trying to meet this challenge, Rui Oliveira joined forces with Michael Taborsky and Jane Brockmann, who were among the contributors to a symposium on ARTs at the 27th International Ethological Conference in Tübingen. The three of us have complementary connections to active researchers in the field and all three have been studying ARTs from very different perspectives.