Esme Ashe-Jepson
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esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson
@esme-ashe.bsky.social
690 followers 390 following 72 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 🇩🇪

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Environmental science 34%
Biology 31%
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Reposted by Joaquín Hortal, Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jan 10
I was delighted to receive a best poster award at the closing ceremony yesterday! Had a great time at #TIBS2026 and look forward to seeing all the wonderful biogeographers again in the future 🌍🌎🌏 @biogeography.bsky.social
globalchangeeco.bsky.social Global Change Ecology group @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social · Jan 9
Congratulations to our @esme-ashe.bsky.social for winning one of the @biogeography.bsky.social poster award at #TIBS2026. Well deserved! 🎉

Reposted by Alejandro Ordóñez, Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

globalchangeeco.bsky.social
Global Change Ecology group @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social · Jan 9
Congratulations to our @esme-ashe.bsky.social for winning one of the @biogeography.bsky.social poster award at #TIBS2026. Well deserved! 🎉

Reposted by Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

globalchangeeco.bsky.social
Global Change Ecology group @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social · Jan 9
The @globalchangeeco.bsky.social team (@christianhof.bsky.social, @esme-ashe.bsky.social, @nicolas-willems.bsky.social, @christianzehner.bsky.social & Lars Landgraf) at #TIBS2026 - we really enjoyed great #biogeography science & the exchange with wonderful colleagues from all over the world.

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jan 9
Already the last day of #TIBS2026, starting with the fascinating links between biogeography, culture, and language @biogeography.bsky.social

Reposted by Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

nicolas-willems.bsky.social
Nicolas @nicolas-willems.bsky.social · Jan 8
I had the opportunity to present the first results of my Master’s thesis at #TIBS2026
My work focuses on grasshopper colouration along an elevational gradient. Great discussions and valuable feedback! Thanks to everyone who stopped by! 🦗⛰️

Reposted by Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

globalchangeeco.bsky.social
Global Change Ecology group @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social · Jan 8
How has landscape heterogeneity changed and how did this influence biodiversity trends? Our MSc student Lars Landgraf presented first results on his poster at #TIBS2026.

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jan 8
Thank you to those who spoke with me at my poster yesterday! The poster is still up for the rest of the #TIBS2026 conference so please come find me or email me if you want to chat
A photo of Esme standing with her poster

Reposted by Damaris Zurell, Esme Ashe‐Jepson

christianhof.bsky.social
Christian Hof @christianhof.bsky.social · Jan 7
Amazing talk at #TIBS2026 by @katschiff.bsky.social from @zurelllab.bsky.social on the drivers of bird occupancy trends in North America. Climate change appears to be more important than land-use change, at least for the last 30years.

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jan 7
Wonderful opening to the #TIBS2026, including an inspiring talk from Mark Lomolino who shared his thoughts on the future of biogeography 🌍🌎🌏 @biogeography.bsky.social

Reposted by Christian Hof

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Jan 7
Very excited to be sharing my recent paper on microclimate performance during heatwaves at #TIBS2026 today! Come along to poster 2023 to find out more about how insects experience extreme heat 🦋🐜🪲🔥☀️ @biogeography.bsky.social

Reposted by Malte Jochum

esme-ashe.bsky.social
Esme Ashe-Jepson @esme-ashe.bsky.social · Dec 19
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 Christian Hof, Esme Ashe‐Jepson, Benjamin Wildermuth

ekengelhardt.bsky.social
Eva Katharina Engelhardt @ekengelhardt.bsky.social · Dec 19
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