The prevalence and intensity of parasites in wild hosts varies across space and is a key
determinant of infection risk in humans, domestic animals and threatened wildlife. Because …

Immune defenses provide resistance against infectious disease that is critical to survival. But
immune defenses are costly, and limited resources allocated to immunity are not available …

This article provides a brief historical perspective on the integration of physiology into the
concept of the pace of life of birds, evaluates the fit of immune function into this framework …

In the context of increasing global environmental changes, it has become progressively
important to understand the effects of human activity on wildlife populations. Declines in …

The immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) assumes that testosterone plays a
dual role in mediating both sexual signal expression and immunosuppression. Although …

Oxidative status and immune function are energy-demanding traits closely linked to diet
composition, particularly resource availability and nutritional value. In seasonal …

Despite the intensive use of immune indices in immunoecology, whether to interpret the
results of immune indices in terms of actual immune competence (ie ability to control and …

Background The relevance of the host microbiota to host ecology and evolution is well
acknowledged. However, the effect of the microbial environment on host immune function …

The allocation of limited resources among life history traits creates trade-offs that constrain
the range of possible phenotypes of organisms. In animals, the cost of maintaining an …

Stress-induced inhibition of innate immune activity has been observed in a variety of wild
birds and may increase chances of infection because this activity constitutes the first line of …