How can multilayer networks expand our understanding of sexual selection and mate choice?

Mate choice is a social behaviour that encompasses a large range of interactions, from relationships among potential partners before and after mating, through mating, fertilization, and beyond. Here we propose that new developments in multilayer network analysis can expand our ability to quantify the integration of different stages of mate choice across times and contexts to uncover the causes and consequences of mate choice. We detail many types of interactions to consider in a study of mate choice and then suggest new approaches and questions that can be addressed with multilayer network analysis. The relationship between layers can be quantified using layer overlap analysis to form a network of networks to uncover the importance of different contexts as drivers and outcomes of mate choice. Reducibility analysis can be used to uncover the biological importance of different types of interactions and determine appropriate timescales of analysis. Finally, the analysis of interconnected networks can bring together interactions of different types, such as connections between physical features in the environment and social interactions to identify modulating factors of mate choice. A multilayered approach to the study of mate choice can uncover novel dynamics of mate choice and its outcomes, opening up new biological questions and potentially revealing new ecological and evolutionary processes.