The costs of immunity

The benefits of immune defense are obvious, but their potential costs are understudied.  Fever, production of defensive proteins, and other immune processes are not free, so organisms must make allocation decisions between self-preservation and reproduction contingent on context.   We ask whether and how the costs of immunity impinge on life history traits within and among species.

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, KJ Navara, ZM Weil, and RJ Nelson. 2007. Immunological memory is compromised by food restriction in deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology 292: R316-320

Martin, LB, ZM Weil, JR Kuhlman, and RJ Nelson. 2006. Trade-offs within immune systems of female white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus. Functional Ecology 20: 630-636

Weil, ZM, LB Martin, JL Workman, and RJ Nelson. 2006. Immune challenge retards seasonal reproductive regression in rodents: evidence for terminal investment. Biology Letters 2: 393-396

Martin, LB. 2005. Trade-offs between molt and immune activity in two populations of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 83: 780-787

Martin, LB, A Scheuerlein, and M Wikelski. 2003. Immune activity elevates energy expenditure of house sparrows: a link between direct and indirect costs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 270: 153-158

Martin, LB, KJ Navara, MT Bailey, CR Hutch, ND Powell, JF Sheridan, and RJ Nelson. Food restriction compromises immune memory in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) by reducing spleen-derived antibody-producing B-cell numbers. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

Martin, LB, ZM Weil, SL Bowers, and RJ Nelson. Sex-specific effects of glucose deprivation on cell-mediated immunity and reproduction in Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus). Journal of Comparative Physiology B