Infectious diseases in primates : behavior, ecology and evolution

Author(s)

    • Nunn, Charles L.
    • Altizer, Sonia M.

Bibliographic Information

Infectious diseases in primates : behavior, ecology and evolution

Charles L. Nunn, Sonia Altizer

(Oxford series in ecology and evolution)

Oxford University Press, 2006

  • : pbk
  • : hbk

Available at  / 6 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [296]-367) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780198565840

Description

An advanced textbook suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in the fields of behavioural ecology, primatology, conservation biology, biological anthropology, public health and wildlife epidemiology.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Questions, Terminology, and Underlying Principles
  • 2. Diversity and Characteristics of Primate Parasites
  • 3. Primate Socioecology and Disease Risk: Predictions and Rationale
  • 4. Host-Parasite Dynamics and Epidemiological Principles
  • 5. Host Defenses: The Immune System and Behavioral Counterstrategies
  • 6. Infectious Disease and Primate Social Systems
  • 7. Parasites and Primate Conservation
  • 8. From Nonhuman Primates to Human Health and Evolution
  • 9. Concluding Remarks and Future Directions
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780198565857

Description

Recent progress in the field of wildlife disease ecology demonstrates that infectious disease plays a crucial role in the lives of wild animals. Parasites and pathogens should be especially important for social animals in which high contact among individuals increases the potential for disease spread. As one of the best studied mammalian groups, primates offer a unique opportunity to examine how complex behaviours (including social organization) influence the risk of acquiring infectious diseases, and the defences used by animals to avoid infection. This book explores the correlates of disease risk in primates, including not only social and mating behaviour but also diet, habitat use, life history, geography and phylogeny. The authors examine how a core set of host and parasite traits influence patterns of parasitism at three levels of biological organization: among individuals, among populations, and across species. A major goal is to synthesize, for the first time, four disparate areas of research: primate behavioural ecology, parasite biology, wildlife epidemiology, and the behavioural and immune defences employed by animals to counter infectious disease. Throughout, the authors provide an overview of the remarkable diversity of infectious agents found in wild primate populations. Additional chapters consider how knowledge of infectious diseases in wild primates can inform efforts focused on primate conservation and human health. More generally, this book identifies infectious disease as an important frontier in our understanding of primate behaviour and ecology. It highlights future challenges for testing the links between host and parasite traits, including hypotheses for the effects of disease on primate social and mating systems.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Questions, Terminology, and Underlying Principles
  • 2. Diversity and Characteristics of Primate Parasites
  • 3. Primate Socioecology and Disease Risk: Predictions and Rationale
  • 4. Host-Parasite Dynamics and Epidemiological Principles
  • 5. Host Defenses: The Immune System and Behavioral Counterstrategies
  • 6. Infectious Disease and Primate Social Systems
  • 7. Parasites and Primate Conservation
  • 8. From Nonhuman Primates to Human Health and Evolution
  • 9. Concluding Remarks and Future Directions

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