For most, the mere mention of lice forces an immediate hand to the head and recollection of
childhood experiences with nits, medicated shampoos, and traumatic haircuts. But for a …

This theme issue has highlighted the links between sociality, health and fitness in a broad
range of organisms, and with approaches that include field and captive studies of animals …

Long‐term studies have been the backbone of population ecology. The red grouse Lagopus
lagopus scoticus is one species that has contributed widely to this field since the 1950s. This …

Highlights•Infection by parasites can reduce individual fitness.•Host responses to infection
during mate choice are intended to avoid infection.•We highlight the main limitations in …

Sexual selection can improve population fitness and purge deleterious mutation from the
gene pool by promoting condition‐dependent mate selection. One ecological factor that …

Vocalizations are an important means to facilitate social interactions, but vocal
communication may be affected by infections. While such effects have been shown for mate …

Pathogen threat affects social preferences and responses across species. Here we
examined the effects of social context and the infection status of conspecific females and …

Males typically gain fitness from multiple mating, whereas females often lose fitness from
numerous mating, potentially leading to sexual conflict over mating. This conflict is expected …

In many socially monogamous bird species, both sexes regularly engage in mating outside
their pair bond. Although the benefits of extra-pair (EP) mating behavior are clear and well …

The reproductive season is energetically costly as revealed by elevated glucocorticoid
concentrations, constrained immune functions and an increased risk of infections. Social …