Behavioural variations associated with breeding—termed reproductive strategies—are some of the striking behaviours that have occupied naturalists for 1000s of years. How an animal seeks, competes for and/or chooses a mate? Do they breed with a single partner, or do they change partners between breeding events? How and when do they look after their young? Behavioural biologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have investigated these questions using quantitative methods since 1970s. In Debrecen, with the support and mentoring of Prof Zoltán Varga, we are investigating the causes and implications of reproductive strategies since 1988. This article reviews some of the core ideas in reproductive strategies research and explains the influence of Prof Varga on the development of these ideas. My main thesis here is that both integrative thinking and adopting a multi-pronged research approach using an explicit phylogenetic framework—both of these have been spearheaded by Prof Varga throughout his lifetime—can reveal novel aspects of reproductive strategies. Importantly, some of these academic insights have direct implications for preserving species and their habitats in the wild, and thus benefit biodiversity conservation.

与繁殖相关的行为变化（称为繁殖策略）是博物学家数千年来关注的一些引人注目的行为。动物如何寻找、竞争和/或选择配偶？它们是与单一伴侣繁殖，还是在繁殖期间更换伴侣？他们如何以及何时照顾孩子？自 20 世纪 70 年代以来，行为生物学家、生态学家和进化生物学家一直在使用定量方法研究这些问题。在德布勒森，在 Zoltán Varga 教授的支持和指导下，我们自 1988 年以来一直在研究生殖策略的原因和影响。本文回顾了生殖策略研究的一些核心思想，并解释了 Varga 教授对这些策略发展的影响。想法。我的主要论点是，综合思维和采用明确的系统发育框架的多管齐下的研究方法（这两者都是瓦尔加教授一生所倡导的）可以揭示生殖策略的新颖方面。重要的是，其中一些学术见解对保护野生物种及其栖息地具有直接影响，从而有利于生物多样性保护。