Parasitesandinfectiousdiseasesareeverywhereandrepresentsomeofthemostpotentforcesshapingthenaturalworld.Theyaffectalmosteveryaspectimaginableinthelifeoftheirhosts,evenasfarasthestructureofentireecosystems.Hosts,inturn,haveevolvedcomplexdefences,withimmunesystemsbeingamongthemostsophisticatedprocessesknowninnature.Inresponse,parasiteshaveagainfoundwaystomanipulateandexploittheirhosts.Eversincelifebegan,hostsandparasiteshavetakenpartinthisrelentlessco-evolutionarystrugglewithfar-reachingconsequencesforusall.Today,conceptsborrowedfromevolution,ecology,parasitology,andimmunologyhaveformedanewsynthesisforthestudyofhost-parasiteinteractions.Evolutionaryparasitologybuildsontheseestablishedfieldsofscientificenquirybutalsoincludessomeofthemostsuccessfulinter-disciplinaryareasofmodernbiologysuchasevolutionaryepidemiologyandecologicalimmunology.Thefirsteditionofthisinnovativetextquicklybecamethestandardreferencetextforthisnewdiscipline.Sincethen,thefieldhasprogressedrapidlyandanupdateisnowrequired.Thisneweditionhasbeenthoroughlyrevisedtoprovideastate-of-the-artoverview,fromthemolecularbasestoadaptivestrategiesandtheirecologicalandevolutionaryconsequences.Itincludescompletelynewmaterialontopicssuchasmicrobiota,evolutionarygenomics,phylodynamics,within-hostevolution,epidemiology,diseasespaces,andemergentdiseases.EvolutionaryParasitologyissuitableforadvancedundergraduates,graduatelevelstudents,andinterdisciplinaryresearchersfromavarietyoffieldsincludingimmunology,genetics,sexualselection,populationecology,behaviouralecology,epidemiology,andevolutionarybiology.Thosestudyingandworkinginadjacentfieldssuchasconservationbiology,virology,medicine,andpublichealthwillalsofinditaninvaluableresourceforconnectingtothebasesoftheirscience.
