The Arc of Life by Grazyna Jasienska Diana S. Sherry & Donna J. Holmes

Author:Grazyna Jasienska, Diana S. Sherry & Donna J. Holmes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

7.2 Trade-Offs and Immunity

The immune system (see Box 7.1 and Fig. 7.1) is an excellent example of a reaction norm with both short- and long-term phenotypic plasticity in response to ecological stressors such as pathogens, allergens, and injury. Immunocompetence , or the ability to mount an effective immune response, is obviously an integral component of organismal life histories because it is crucial for maximizing evolutionary fitness. And because immunocompetence is an integral part of organismal life histories, it is predicted to be involved in physiological trade-offs with other functions (Sheldon and Verhulst 1996; Lockmiller and Deerenberg 2000; Norris and Evans 2000; Barnard and Behnke 2001). Selection for trade-offs is expected to be particularly strong under conditions of resource restriction, when development, maintenance, and activation of immune responses generate a substantial energetic burden (Sheldon and Verhulst 1996; Lockmiller and Deerenberg 2000; Schmid-Hempel 2003; Muehlenbein and Bribiescas 2005) (see Box 7.2).

Fig. 7.1Major immune mechanisms in humans. An illustrated summary of the complexity of the immune system’s dynamic responses. For an explanation of the basic components (see Box 1). For a more comprehensive review of the human immune system (see Paul 2008). Modified from Muehlenbein (2010)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.