Applied ecoimmunology: using immunological tools to improve conservation efforts in a changing world.

ABSTRACT: Ecoimmunology is a rapidly developing field that explores how the environment shapes immune function, which in turn influences host-parasite relationships and disease outcomes. Host immune defence is a key fitness determinant because it underlies the capacity of animals to resist or tolerate potential infections. Importantly, immune function can be suppressed, depressed, reconfigured or stimulated by exposure to rapidly changing environmental drivers like temperature, pollutants and food availability. Thus, hosts may experience trade-offs resulting from altered investment in immune function under environmental stressors. As such, approaches in ecoimmunology can provide powerful tools to assist in the conservation of wildlife. Here, we provide case studies that explore the diverse ways that

SUBMITTER: Ohmer MEB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8422949 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature