The role of parasites and pathogens in the evolution of life history traits is of increasing interest to both ecologists and evolutionary biologists. Immunology, which was once studied almost exclusively by immunologists, has become an important area of proximate investigation to animal physiologists as a means for understanding changes in disease susceptibility and the neural and neuroendocrine mechanisms that mediate these changes. The coalescence of these different perspectives has given rise to the field of ecological immunology, an interdisciplinary research field that examines interactions among host physiology and disease ecology in a wide range of environmentally relevant contexts. The goal of ecological immunology is to understand immune function in the context of life-history traits across a wide range of organisms. Research within the field combines diverse approaches from a wide range of scientific disciplines including evolution, ecology, and life history theory to endocrinology, neuroscience, molecular biology, and behavior.This book critically reviews recent advances in the discipline of ecoimmunology. Chapters are written by experts in their respective fields and cover diverse topics including how environmental factors can affect host immune function, the complex dynamics among host immunity, pathogen prevalence and disease susceptibility, and the physiological mechanisms that lead to adaptive changes in immune responses. By integrating analyses of immune system function within animal biology, investigators will gain will gain a more comprehensive and satisfying understanding of organism-environment interactions at both ultimate and proximate levels of analysis.

1. Introduction to ecoimmunologyGregory E. Demas and Randy J. NelsonIndiana University and the Ohio State University2. Life history evolution, hormones, and avian immune functionDawn M. O'Neal and Ellen D. KettersonIndiana University3. Sickness behavior in vertebrates: Allostasis, life-history modulationand hormonal regulationNoah T. Ashley and John C. WingfieldUniversity of Alaska, Anchorage and University of California, Davis4. Amphibian Immunity: Staying in tune with the environmentLouise Rollins-Smith and Douglas WoodhamsVanderbilt University5. Immunity in primates within a psychosocial and life span perspectiveChris CoeUniversity of Wisconsin6. Maternal modulation of offspring immune function in vertebratesDennis Hasselquist, Michael Tobler and Jan-?ke NilssonLund University7. Tradeoffs limiting MHC heterozygosityJason L. Kubinak, Adam C. Nelson, James S. Ruff and Wayne K. PottsUniversity of Utah8. The energetics of immunity: Mechanisms of trade-offs in ecoimmunologyGregory Demas, Timothy Greives, Emily Chester and Susannah FrenchIndiana University, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Utah State University9. Neuroendocrine mechanisms of seasonal changes in immune functionZachary M. Weil and Randy J. NelsonThe Ohio State University10. Pineal gland and circulatory melatonin in regulation of immune status of seasonally breeding mammalsC. Haldar, S. Gupta, S. Rai, R. Ahmed and R. YadavBanaras Hindu University11. Environmental challenges and the neuroendocrine mechanisms of stress-induced modulation of host resistance to microbial infectionJacqueline W. Mays, Nicole D. Powell, Michael T. Bailey and John F. SheridanThe Ohio State University12. Inflammation and behaviorKeith W. Kelley, Arnaud Aubert and Robert DantzerUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and DESCO, Facult? des Sciences13. The importance of physiology for ecoimmunlogy: Lessons from the insectsShelley AdamoDalhousie University14. Interactions between host social behavior, physiology, and disease susceptibility: the role of social contextBonnie Fairbanks and Dana HawleyVirginia Tech University15. Sexual selection and parasites: Do mechanisms matter?Anne C. Jacobs and Marlene ZukUniversity of California, Riverside16. Sex differences in immune responses to virusesDionne P. Robinson and Sabra L. KleinJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health17. Immunopathology in ecological immunologyE Rhiannon Pursall and Jens RolffUniversity of Sheffield18. The evolutionary ecology of infectious disease virulenceLars R?berg and Martin StjernmanLund University19. Evolutionary genetics of infectious diseasePaul Schmid-HempelETH Zurich