Pheromones offer exceptional opportunities to study fundamental biological problems. Recent progress in the field is rapid. The excitement comes from the convergence of powerful techniques from different areas of science including chemistry and animal behaviour, combined with new techniques in genomics and molecular biology. For perhaps the first time, we can now investigate questions at every level: molecular, neurobiological, hormonal, behavioural, ecological, and evolutionary.

The discoveries from molecular biologists are likely to greatly expand our knowledge of the evolutionary biology of olfactory communication. Equally, molecular biology only makes sense in the context of evolution. Pheromone research almost always brings together biologists of many kinds and a rich diversity of chemists – each is approaching the other parts of the study as a non-specialist. This book is designed to bridge those gaps and to bring together people already working on pheromones and to encourage others to take up the challenge.

Different parts of the book emphasise examples from different taxa. For example, mammals feature more strongly than invertebrates in the sections on individual variation and hormonal effects of pheromones, but invertebrates dominate the chapter on searching behaviour. Because of pressure of space, the literature citations in the text are more to offer a way into the current literature than to give full credit for discoveries.