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Infectious Diseases in Primates
Behavior, Ecology and Evolution
Charles Nunn and Sonia Altizer
398 pages
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29 halftones, 58 line drawings, tables
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234x156mm
978-0-19-856585-7
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Paperback
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27 April 2006
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This item is printed to order. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- The first book to synthesise and integrate the previously disparate areas of primate socioecology, parasite functional categories, host defences, and theoretical models of disease spread.
- Organizes hypotheses according to parasite traits such as transmission mode, host specificity and virulence.
- Develops a new co-evolutionary framework for investigating parasites and primate social evolution at empirical and theoretical scales.
- Ideal graduate seminar course material.
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. Readership: 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.
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Charles Nunn, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany and Department of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley, USA., and Sonia Altizer, Institute of Ecology, Universtiy of Georgia, Athens, USA
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"[this book] is organized in nine chapters, each building upon the last, making it an excellent text for introducing the subject of primate pathogen biology to audiences coming from divergent backgrounds, but with a shared interest in the topic. I can attest to the success of this volume in this regard, having used it to lead a graduate seminar including participants from biological anthropology, epidemiology, ecology, and veterinary medicine." - Evolutionary Biology "This is a useful book that includes an index, which is of practical interest for laboratories and zoos." - Michel Cuisin MAMMALIA "I would highly recommend this book to behavioural scientists, veterinarians working with nonhuman primates
in biomedical, zoological or field settings and to investigators utilizing nonhuman primates in their disease programs. American Journal of Primatology 69:1 (2007)" "The nine chapters of this logically structured book will appeal to ecologists, evolutionary biologists, primatologists, and especially to students in these fields seeking a better understanding of disease biology, epidemiological principals, and comparative evolutionary analyses, On the whole, the publication of this book marks, if not the birth of a new field, its transition from childhood into adolescence. EcoHealth 2007." "This innovative book provides a comprehensive synthesis of the emerging and topical field of disease ecology. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to those with a passion for
diseases or primates." - Raina K. Plowright, TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution (2006) "... a structured and thoughtful synthesis of a field that has never before been unified ... On the whole, the publication of this book marks, if not the birth of a new field, its transition from childhood into adolescence." - EcoHealth 4, 231-233, May 2007
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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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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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