The physiological basis of life history variation

Animals tend to mature rapidly and die young or mature slowly and live long lives.  We are interested in understanding how physiological systems, in particular the endocrine and immune systems, constrain the pace of life of rodents and songbirds to a single axis.

Relevant publications

Martin, LB, ZM Weil, and RJ Nelson. 2008. Fever and sickness behavior vary among congeneric rodents. Functional Ecology 22: 68-77

Martin, LB, ZM Weil, and RJ Nelson. 2007. Immune defense and reproductive pace of life in Peromyscus mice. Ecology 88: 2516-2528.

Martin, LB, D Hasselquist, and M Wikelski. 2006. Investment in immune defense is linked to pace of life in house sparrows. Oecologia 147: 565-575

Martin, LB, MI Pless, J Svoboda, and M Wikelski. 2004. Immune activity in temperate and tropical house sparrows: a common garden experiment. Ecology 85: 2323-2331