title: Eco-endo-immunology across avian life history stages.
abstract: Broadly distributed songbirds, particularly those that migrate, encounter a wide range of pathogens. Both pathogen exposure and energy available for immune responses are expected to be affected by environmental variation in climate, habitat quality, and social interactions as well as hormonal mechanisms. Comparisons of Aves in the field have begun to build the framework for understanding how such environmental variation interacts with disease environments as reflected in endocrine and immune responses. In this review, the roles of hormones and immune function across the various life history stages that make up the avian annual cycle are considered with an emphasis on free-living songbirds and the various hormones known to mediate the innate and acquired immune systems including melatonin, prolactin, growth hormone, and several neuroendocrine hormones. Finally, hormone-immune interactions are considered within the framework of disease ecology.
authors.affiliation: Huyck Preserve and Biological Research Station, P.O. Box 189, Rensselaerville, NY 12147, USA. dawn@huyckpreserve.org
authors.forename: Dawn M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: O'Neal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D004463:Ecology
keywords: Birds; Disease ecology; Ecoimmunology; Hormones; Life history evolution