A central principle in life-history theory is that reproductive effort negatively affects survival. Costs of reproduction are thought to be physiologically-based, but the underlying mechanisms remain
1) Determining the factors governing investment in immunity is critical for understanding host-pathogen ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Studies often consider disease resistance in the context o
The work described in the manuscript strongly implies that material from the gut travels the full length of the poultry reproductive tract. This is possibly the result of chicken physiology which incl
1. Numerous species adopt inducible defence strategies, i.e. they have phenotypically plastic traits that decrease the risk of capture and consumption by potential predators. The benefits of expressin
Current understanding of the immune system comes primarily from laboratory-based studies. There has been substantial interest in examining how it functions in the wild, but studies have been limited b
