Immunity is a largely neglected but potentially important determinant of fitness for wild animals. Historically, immunologists have favored reductionism, but integrative study of the immune system may shed new light on many basic biological questions, including i) Why senescence occurs, ii) Why current reproductive effort often hinders future reproductive success, iii) Why stress suppresses some aspects of immune activity but up-regulates others, and iv) Why immune defenses are so labile in spite of presumably strong selection for robust disease resistance.
My research interests address several questions including:
1. How physiological systems impinge on life history variation among and within species
2. How and why immune defenses vary in space and time
3. How expensive is the use, maintenance, and development of the immune system
4. How steroid hormones, particularly those involved in stress, affect immune defenses
5. How physiological and behavioral traits mediate species’ invasiveness