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

Articles

OpenURL

Population Differences in Fever and Sickness Behaviors in a Wild Passerine: A Role for Cytokines (with James S. Adelman, George E. Bentley, John C. Wingfield, and Michaela Hau), Journal of Experimental Biology (2010)

Immune responses benefit hosts by clearing pathogens, but they also incur physiological costs and tissue...

 

PDF

Food Restriction Compromises Immune Memory in Deer Mice (Peromyscus Maniculatus) by Reducing Spleen-Derived Antibody-Producing B Cell Numbers (with Kristen J. Navara, Michael T. Bailey, Chelsea R. Hutch, Nicole D. Powell, John F. Sheridan, and Randy J. Nelson), Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (2008)

Immune activity is variable in many wild animals, despite presumed strong selection against immune incompetence....