Exploring the Physiological mechanisms and Ecological Consequences of Energetic Tradeoffs: An Integative Study of the Influences of Avian Malarial Infection on Thermogenic Performance

Abstract

Survival in variable environments often requires careful allocation of resources to competing physiological and behavioral functions. Because these competing processes often have additive energetic costs (Hawley et al. 2012), a limited resource pool forces individuals to make difficult trade-off decisions regarding energetic investments (Lochmiller and Deerenberg 2000). These trade-offs are a cornerstone of life-history theory that is aimed at determining the optimal allocation strategies in variable environments (Ricklefs and Wikelski 2002), and understanding their physiological and ecological consequences has renewed poignancy in the face of the unprecedented rate of anthropogenic environmental change occurring across the planet.