The analysis of variation in pheromone systems within and between populations of the same species would constitute a considerable contribution to the understanding of the role of pheromones in reprodu... The analysis of variation in pheromone systems within and between populations of the same species would constitute a considerable contribution to the understanding of the role of pheromones in reproductive isolation. Breeding experiments which test the assortment of different types of pheromones and receptors could be especially useful. The hypothesis presented in this article that differences in pheromone systems of closely related species may result from disruptive selection could be tested by monitoring mixed colonies of cross attractive species for changes in the propensity for interspecic mating. It would also be interesting to monitor population levels in mixed colonies to determine whether inviable interspecic mating can result in the extinction of one or both of the species. Acknowledgments We acknowledge with deep appreciation the constructive reviews of the manuscript by Richard S. Beal, Graduate Dean at the University of Northern Arizona, Flag- staff; Theodore T. Kozlowski, Professor of Forestry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Robert M. Silverstein, Professor of Ecological Chemistry at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N. Y. We are also grateful to numerous additional colleagues for their contribution to the conceptual framework of this chapter and for their permission to cite unpublished reports or manuscripts in press according to http://sundowndivers.org/what-are-pheromones-used-for/ In 1974, when I began graduate school, I chose to center my focus on the biology of human reproduction, in large part because I wanted to understand myself better. I was thirty, had been married for twelve years, and had two school-age children. The oral contraceptive had liberated women from the “contraceptive failure” so common to the other methods. With that early freedom women's liberationists had begun to proclaim the right to sexual pleasures that were unheard of while pregnancy loomed as a possibility. By 1974 talking about sex, fertility, and “reproductive behavior" was acceptable. Even so, while talk was common, substantive knowledge was not. I wanted to know more about what comprises female sexuality and reproduction. I sensed that there were mysteries to be explored, that there were realms of knowledge to discover, and that these would alter my own experience of love and life. The textbooks did not address these mysteries, but I be- lieved they existed and could be understood. As a graduate student that was my job: to discover, and to make a contribution to knowledge. For the next fifteen years, as I studied anatomy and biology, I gathered the evidence and conducted the experiments that produced the first proof: proof that the frequency of sexual behavior inuences a woman’s hormonal system. The pattern, her general health, and her fertility. The body of this research hints at the enormous power of the pattern of biological forces that provoke a man and a woman to be sexual. As my research uncovered, healthy sex is a matter of timing. The frequency of sexual behavior either “tunes" or “disrupts” the natural rhythm of a woman’s hormonal functioning. This chapter explores just what that timing is and how it specically affects the bodies of women. The repercussions of this discovery on men and women are examined throughout this book. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com Alexander P is a blogger that studies pheromones and live in Los Angeles, CA.