Field parasitological studies consistently demonstrate the reality of polyparasitism in natural
systems. However, only recently, studies from ecological and evolutionary fields have …

Opossums are the most diverse and ecologically important group of New World marsupials,
although only the Virginia opossum is familiar to North American residents. In fact, many …

Despite the extensive information on the effects of habitat alteration on the structure of
helminth communities in small mammals, the evidence is still inconclusive. A systematic …

Gastrointestinal parasites are well-documented in small mammals from north-central Chile,
but little is known about endoparasites of rodents in southern Chile. A survey was conducted …

Differences in host susceptibility to different parasite types are largely based on the degree
of matching between immune genes and parasite antigens. Specifically the variable genes …

Background Anthropogenic habitat change often results in altered landscapes that can
provide new environments where hosts, parasites and pathogens can interact. The latter can …

Background The total amount of native vegetation is an important property of fragmented
landscapes and is known to exert a strong influence on population and metapopulation …

Genes of the highly dynamic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are directly linked to
individual fitness and are of high interest in evolutionary ecology and conservation genetics …

Background Genes at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are known for high levels
of polymorphism maintained by balancing selection. In small or bottlenecked populations …

Major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) genes code for proteins that bind and
present antigenic peptides and trigger the adaptive immune response. We present a broad …