Arne Hegemann ist Researcher der Division aquatic ecology an der Lund Universität, Schweden.

Abstract:
All organisms on earth need to protect themselves against pathogens. The immune system is fundamentally important for self-maintenance and promotes survival by reducing the probability of disease-related mortality. However, it simultaneously incurs costs in terms of its production, maintenance and activation. Therefore, it has been hypothesised that trade-offs with other behavioural and physiological activities make immune function a powerful driver of individual differences in many evolutionary and ecological processes. Traditionally, research has focussed on trade-offs between immune function and reproduction and only recently evolutionary biologists and ecologist started to investigate the role of immune function as an underlying mechanism in many other trade-offs. In this talk, I will summaries results from my recent work on birds and fish that show how immune function effects and regulates many behavioural and physiological activities, for example migratory decisions, thermoregulation or investment in anti-predator mechanisms. Based on these data, I propose that incorporating measurements of immune function and understanding variation in immune responses will allow for an improved understanding of many ecological and evolutionary processes.

Webex-Details:
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