Inflammation is a pervasive phenomenon that operates during severe perturbations of
homeostasis, such as infection, injury, and exposure to contaminants, and is triggered by …

A host has two methods to defend against pathogens: It can clear the pathogens or reduce
their impact on health in other ways. The first, resistance, is well studied. Study of the …

Body condition metrics are widely used to infer animal health and to assess costs of parasite
infection. Since parasites harm their hosts, ecologists might expect negative relationships …

Ecological immunology and disease ecology are two relatively young disciplines that apply
ecological approaches and principles to traditionally non‐ecological fields. In both cases, an …

The prevalence and intensity of parasites in wild hosts varies across space and is a key
determinant of infection risk in humans, domestic animals and threatened wildlife. Because …

Activating the immune system has associated fitness costs, both immediate costs in the form
of reduced current reproduction and long-term costs in the form of reduced life span and …

In wild populations, individuals are regularly exposed to a wide range of pathogens. In this
context, organisms must elicit and regulate effective immune responses to protect their …

Hosts are typically coinfected by multiple parasite species, resulting in potentially
overwhelming levels of complexity. We argue that an individual host can be considered to …

Tolerance, the ability of a host to limit the negative fitness effects of a given parasite load, is
now recognised as an important host defence strategy in animals. Together with resistance …

Ageing is associated with profound changes in behaviour that could influence exposure and
susceptibility to infectious disease. As well as determining emergent patterns of infection …