Pair bonding is an exclusive mating relationship associating the memory of a mate with the potential successful completion of a breeding cycle. In evolutionary biology, pair bonding has been studied as a mating strategy and this biological phenomenon has been associated with survival related reproductive behaviors, however, behaviors that function in the formation of bonding and those that are established as a result of bonding are seldom distinguished, making it difficult to assess how pair bonding is represented in the brain. This thesis assesses pair bonding in ring doves, an animal that has a predictable sequence leading to a successful breeding cycle. Through a series of lesion, immunohistochemistry, and behavior studies we sought to understand the processing and execution of this fitness-critical complex behavior, by assessing the neural basis of pair bonding, understanding which behavioral events initiate the formation of the bond and how bonding affects an animal's decisions involving a mate. We found a neuro-marker for pair bonding that is more accurate than current methods of measuring bonding and that lesions to this region, the nucleus taeniae, disrupted pair bonding in doves. We showed that pair bonding moderates breeding behaviors, specifically courtship (nest coo) behavior, allowing for changes in these behaviors that can effect neurogenesis and recovery of behavior (nest coo) following lesions to regions associated with regulation of reproductive-endocrine function. We determined that a pair bond in ring doves is formed following the performance of courtship (nest coo) behavior, rather than the completion of the entire breeding cycle, suggesting that doves are using this stage to predict the successful completion of the breeding cycle with their mate, a concept consistent with pair bonding’s role in survival behavior.