Esme Ashe-Jepson
LightNews LightNews
banner
esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson
@esme-ashe.bsky.social
650 followers 370 following 67 posts

Post-doc at the University of Würzburg | Global change and temperature impacts on butterflies across the life cycle 🦋🐛☀️ My views are my own, she/her, 🇬🇧 in 🇩🇪

Videos
Environmental science 34%
Biology 31%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Malte Jochum

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · 7d
New paper alert! Microclimate temperatures are more extreme than we previously thought! Near-ground temperatures are amplified in hot weather, cool refugia is lost and replaced with heat traps ☀️🔥🥵 escape from heat will be very hard for small ground-dwelling organisms
doi.org/10.21425/fob...
Local microclimates can both amplify and mitigate extreme temperatures associated with climate change
Climate change is a threat to global biodiversity, with changes to mean temperatures and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Heatwaves in particular pose a threat to species’...
doi.org

Reposted by Esme Ashe‐Jepson, Benjamin Wildermuth

ekengelhardt.bsky.social
Eva Katharina Engelhardt @ekengelhardt.bsky.social · 7d
Come work with us! 🪲For our new project bAImo we are searching for a PhD researcher combining modelling 💻 with ecological expertise, aiming to improve interdisciplinary approaches to insect monitoring 🔎🐝 please visit tinyurl.com/bAImo-PhDoffer for more details. Looking forward to your application 🦗😊
Job Offer: PhD Position Project bAImo: artificial intelligence for insect monitoring 3 years (initially) 65% TV-L Background: photo of a brown butterfly (Pyronia tithonus) on a purple flower

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Nov 18
Cool critter of the day! 🧐 These are the same moth species, one male one female! There are quite a few amazing moth species active around this time of year where the females don’t bother growing wings (why waste the energy?) and look like completely different insects!! 🤩
A photo of a female winter moth (Operophtera brumata) on a finger. A photo of a male winter moth (Operophtera brumata) in a pot.

Reposted by Tyson Wepprich

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Nov 12
My latest paper is now published in an issue! We showcased the incredible scientific contributions that local and amateur naturalists make for research on long term change! 💚🌍
doi.org/10.1111/icad...
Local entomologists shine a light on moth communities: The value of amateur records in cataloguing long‐term change
Written records associated with museum collections are often underutilised. We use two new macro-moth collections donated to the University Museum of Zoology (Cambridge) to investigate long-term cha...
doi.org

Reposted by Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

globalchangeeco.bsky.social
Global Change Ecology group @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social · Nov 11
Yesterday at our GCERetreat2025 our postdoc @esme-ashe.bsky.social presented her impressive data collection as well as first models and findings on butterfly thermoregulation and thermal tolerance. Many more cool results coming up!

Reposted by Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

globalchangeeco.bsky.social
Global Change Ecology group @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social · Nov 11
GCERetreat2025: Our MSc student Katrin Fuest presented ideas and first fieldwork reports from her thesis. She studies thermoregulation of forest #butterflies in relation to habitat structure and microclimate. Well done Katrin!

Reposted by Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

maltejochum.bsky.social
Malte Jochum @maltejochum.bsky.social · Nov 11
At our @globalchangeeco.bsky.social retreat to Austria, we are both taking in the beautiful surrounding landscape and discussing the latest research advancements of the team members. Here, Rasmus Dam Jensen presents our #MultiCrossBEF project as part of @bexplo.bsky.social
@uni-wuerzburg.de
The Global Change Ecology crowd listening to Rasmus Jensen introducing his PhD research. A field path and some trees in the foreground with a mountain range in the background

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Sep 12
I’ve had a wonderful week infiltrating the ranks of meteorologists! I’m always excited to share my own research, and I’ve learnt a lot about climatology, a subject with so much collaborative potential with ecology 🌦️🌱🦋🌍
A photo of a name badge

Reposted by Esme Ashe‐Jepson

heidelyn.bsky.social
Lyn Heideman @heidelyn.bsky.social · Sep 10
Essential to functioning ecosystems, insects are declining at alarming rates--even in remote areas. A 20-year study in CO found an average annual decline of 6.6% in insect abundance, amounting to a 72.4% drop over the 20-year period. The steep decline was associated with rising summer temperatures.

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Sep 8
I’m very excited to be sharing some of my work on quantifying microclimates and their performance during heatwaves at this years European Meteorological Society conference! I’m very much outside my comfort zone and looking forward to learning lots about climatology across scales 🕵️‍♀️🌍🔍
A photo of the EMS Annual Meeting welcome sign

Reposted by Esme Ashe‐Jepson

christianhof.bsky.social
Christian Hof @christianhof.bsky.social · Sep 3
A pleasure to be (co-)supervising these young folks @globalchangeeco.bsky.social, together with @esme-ashe.bsky.social and @christianzehner.bsky.social

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 31
With collecting a declining hobby, and many written records discarded instead of being deposited in museums, it is increasingly important to preserve this knowledge and make it accessible for researchers 👩‍💻👨‍💻

Reposted by Malte Jochum

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 31
Can we harness the knowledge of local or amateur entomologists to investigate long-term change? 🤔 I’ll be demonstrating how observations of the natural world can be translated into meaningful data and trends at @gfoesoc.bsky.social Thurs 12:15pm 0.001 📚🏫

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 27
One of the stars of the last few weeks has been the lovely water ringlet (Erebia pronoe), who have stunning markings and vivid colours when fresh. 🤩 They’re quite friendly really, if you don’t mind the tickling!
A photo of a water ringlet (Erebia pronoe) on a hand

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 27
And that’s a wrap! Today I finished my butterfly sampling in the Alps, with a final visit to my highest elevation site (and probably my favourite). I caught my 606th butterfly of the month, and it’s time to head home 🦋🗻
A photo of a mountain with trees below

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 25
Today’s catch of the day was also the catch of the week, a stunning swallowtail (Papilio machaon)! 🤩 A beautiful species, and very obliging to let me take some photos while it nectared 🌸🦋☀️
A photo of a swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon) with wings open on a flower

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 25
After a few days of rain, we managed to get two dry days to complete our site surveys! Today was a beautiful bright day with a cold wind, air temperatures have dropped 10C in a week! It seems the summer field season is coming to a close, and we were just in time! 🦋🗻
A photo of a mountain with a lake below

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 19
After a rainy few days we’re been back in the field! After a slobbery encounter with some cows, we had a good day sampling. The encounter of the day was this stunning spurge hawk-moth larva (Hyles euphorbiae) 🐛 it was huge, the size of a finger!!

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 15
Another scorching day in the mountains! Today’s site was overflowing with Scotch argus (Erebia aethiops), even watched a few laying their eggs carefully on grass stems. Few other species around, but at least this one is flourishing here

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 14
Today was one of the hottest days we’ve gone out sampling, reaching nearly 30C here in the mountains ☀️🔥 Many butterflies seemed to be hugging the shade today. One of my students spotted this lovely garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) similarly hiding in the shadows

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 13
Another sunny day at our highest elevation plot! Some nice finds today, lots of yellow-spotted ringlets (Erebia manto), and my first ever mountain clouded yellows (Colias phicomone) (sadly no good photos)! So many species out flying, it’s always a pleasure to visit (…except for the climb)
A six spot burnet moth (Zygana filipendulae) taking off from a flower

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 11
Another day out sampling butterflies! Many silver-spotted skippers (Hesperia comma) buzzing about, they’re in good numbers here! Otherwise had the pleasure of sharing a peaceful moment with this painted lady (Vanessa cardui), who seemed reluctant to leave after I interrupted their nectaring 🌸🦋
A painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) sat on a hand with wings open in front of a mountain view

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 9
Another sunny day out sampling butterflies in the Alps! Today we came across a site rich in silver-spotted skippers (Hesperia comma), but in the heat of the sun they were incredibly fast and restless, very hard to catch! 🦋💨☀️ luckily Erebia rarely seem to be in a hurry, so the sampling was still good
A photo of an alpine grassland with mountains in the background

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 8
Today we visited two higher elevation sites, and made the most of the sunshine! ☀️ Highlights include this silver-spotted skipper (Hesperia comma) who seemed comfortable on my insect pot for just long enough to get a quick photo

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 8
Yesterday wasn’t as successful in the field, cows on the sites makes sampling tougher, but highlight of the day was seeing the food chain in action with this small spider munching on a much larger Erebia butterfly. What a feast that must be, and incredible grip to hold them both on such a small stem

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 6
Another successful day in the field, lots of Argynnis species out in the sunshine. It was a particular pleasure to enjoy the view with this high brown fritillary (Argynnis adippe)
A photo of a high brown fritillary (Argynnis adippe) resting on a finger with wings open in front of a mountain view

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 6
Favourite catch so far was this lovely female brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), which adorably tucked its head and legs away to do its best leaf impression when caught. I’ve not seen this behaviour up close before, and solidifies this species as my favourite 🥰

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Aug 6
As of yesterday I’m back in the Alps investigating thermoregulation and thermal tolerance of butterflies, and joined by two masters students working on Orthopterans. 🗻🦗🦋☀️ So far the weathers been quite changeable, hopefully improving over the next few days

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jul 22
Some species can be challenging to ID, particularly if their traits are variable or similar to other species. So I was extremely excited to catch this lovely female Pieris mannii with textbooks traits! My first confident ID of this species, and first record of this species on campus 🤩✨🦋
A photograph of a southern white butterfly (Pieris mannii) being held with wings open A photograph of a southern white butterfly held with forceps

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jul 22
New Masters launching! 🤩 A 2 year program in Germany and Norway, all courses held in English. Amazing opportunity to learn about some of the most critical challenges the natural world is facing from leading scientists working in this field 🌍🌱
merge-master.bsky.social MERGE - Master of Global Change Ecology @merge-master.bsky.social · Jul 21
We’re excited to launch our Double Degree Master’s in Global Change Ecology – a unique collaboration between the University of Würzburg (Germany) and the University of Bergen (Norway)! Passionate about biodiversity🐛, ecosystems🗻, and today’s urgent environmental challenges🌍? This program is for you!
MERGE - Master of Global Change Ecology