Climate warming is increasingly exposing wildlife to sublethal high temperatures, which may
lead to chronic impacts and reduced fitness. Telomere length (TL) may link heat exposure to …

Telomere length (TL) shortens with age but telomere dynamics can relate to fitness
components independent of age. Immune function often relates to such fitness components …

Researchers have long sought to understand and predict an animal's response to stressful
stimuli. Since the introduction of the concept of homeostasis, a variety of model frameworks …

Although crucial for host survival when facing persistent parasite pressure, costly immune
functions will inevitably compete for resources with other energetically expensive traits such …

An understanding of thermal limits and variation across geographic regions is central to
predicting how any population may respond to global change. Latitudinal clines, in …

Recent evidence suggests that female ornaments can commonly act as signals. However,
how signaling functions might be affected by the tendency for reduced ornament elaboration …

Vertebrate cellular immunity displays substantial variation among taxa and environments.
Hematological parameters such as white blood-cell counts have emerged as a valuable tool …

Aging is associated with declines in physiological performance; declining immune defenses
particularly could have consequences for age-related fitness and survival. In aging …

Vertebrate fossils showing pathological lesions are incredibly rare, and even more so is the
identification of an ailment affecting multiple individuals in a population. However, the …

Animals initiate physiological mechanisms to re-establish homeostasis following
environmental stress. To understand how bird physiology responds to abiotic stress, we …