Abstract
I apply for a project grant (incl. lektorsbidrag 50%) in disease- and immunoecology to investigate key questions in ecological and evolutionary research, but also of considerable interest for veterinary medicine, endocrinology, parasitology and conservation. I merge ecology, molecular and immunology methods in three main research projects. (1) immunoecology (immunocompetence in relation to pace of life and to annual changes in optimal defence, how the mothers transfer of antibodies affect offspring immunity, how nutrition and stress early in life affects the immune system, and how hormones affect immune function and ornaments). (2) avian malaria - coevolution of blood parasites and bird hosts (effects of malaria in infected birds, study parasite dynamics over many years in a system where the bird host is exposed to many co-occurring malaria species). (3) zoonotic ecology - wild birds as transmitters of diseases to poultry and humans (screening of zoonoses eg. West Nile virus, infection experiments on wild birds with e.g. Campylobacter). These studies are important for basic and applied research on issues with considerable impact on human health and economics, as well as for conservation of wild animals. My collaborative research profile (>20 ongoing international collaborations) allows me to conduct broad, multi-disciplinary research on many different aspects and study species. I have published 63 peer-reviewed papers since 1999 (in total 95 papers cited >2200 times).
Sweden