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      Immunocompetence and condition-dependent sexual advertisement in male house sparrows (Passer domesticus)

      , , , , ,
      Journal of Animal Ecology
      Wiley-Blackwell

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          Ecological immunology: costly parasite defences and trade-offs in evolutionary ecology

          In the face of continuous threats from parasites, hosts have evolved an elaborate series of preventative and controlling measures - the immune system - in order to reduce the fitness costs of parasitism. However, these measures do have associated costs. Viewing an individual's immune response to parasites as being subject to optimization in the face of other demands offers potential insights into mechanisms of life history trade-offs, sexual selection, parasite-mediated selection and population dynamics. We discuss some recent results that have been obtained by practitioners of this approach in natural and semi-natural populations, and suggest some ways in which this field may progress in the near future.
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            Costly sexual signals: are carotenoids rare, risky or required?

            Theories of animal signalling emphasize the importance of costliness-to be effective, signals must be dependable; to be dependable, signals must carry costs-and carotenoid-based signals are a favoured example. The traditional view that carotenoids are costly because they are scarce still carries weight. However, biomedical research has led to alternative views on costliness, mainly related to beneficial, but also to detrimental, effects of carotenoids. Recent improvements in our understanding of carotenoids suggest that the relative importance of these mechanisms will soon be determined, leading to a fresh outlook on cost-based signalling.
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              On the adaptive significance of stress-induced immunosuppression.

              We approach the field of stress immunology from an ecological point of view and ask: why should a heavy physical workload, for example as a result of a high reproductive effort, compromise immune function? We argue that immunosuppression by neuroendocrine mechanisms, such as stress hormones, during heavy physical workload is adaptive, and consider two different ultimate explanations of such immunosuppression. First, several authors have suggested that the immune system is suppressed to reallocate resources to other metabolic demands. In our view, this hypothesis assumes that considerable amounts of energy or nutrients can be saved by suppressing the immune system; however, this assumption requires further investigation. Second, we suggest an alternative explanation based on the idea that the immune system is tightly regulated by neuroendocrine mechanisms to avoid hyperactivation and ensuing autoimmune responses. We hypothesize that the risk of autoimmune responses increases during heavy physical workload and that the immune system is suppressed to counteract this.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal of Animal Ecology
                J Anim Ecology
                Wiley-Blackwell
                0021-8790
                1365-2656
                November 1999
                November 1999
                : 68
                : 6
                : 1225-1234
                Article
                10.1046/j.1365-2656.1999.00364.x
                7f3fedd2-f8f1-4344-b09a-d83a0012c179
                © 1999

                http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1

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