Mats Ittonen
@matsittonen.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecologist, entomologist, and environmentalist. Macroecology postdoc at the University of Tartu (@macroecologyut.bsky.social), now also meandering into soil ecology. Bird and butterfly watcher.
https://matsittonen.com
https://matsittonen.com
Pinned
Mats Ittonen
@matsittonen.bsky.social
· Jun 24
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
doi.org
New paper in @pnas.org — and this is my favourite one out of my PhD thesis! Field transplants of wall brown butterflies show life history evolution during climate change-driven range expansion, BUT non-evolving winter tolerance still sets the range limit.🧵1/12. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
I finally finished reading Walden! In many places a frustrating, but also an interesting, occasionally funny, and often beautiful read. A few favourites of mine: the excited ant war report, the excessively detailed description of different kinds of ice, and this pictured passage... (1/2)
November 7, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I finally finished reading Walden! In many places a frustrating, but also an interesting, occasionally funny, and often beautiful read. A few favourites of mine: the excited ant war report, the excessively detailed description of different kinds of ice, and this pictured passage... (1/2)
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...
October 11, 2025 at 9:17 AM
The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
Kaivosala on käynnistänyt mediakampanjan, jonka tavoitteena on saada hallitus perumaan maltillisen kaivosveron maltillinen korotus. Luonnonsuojeluliitto antaa hallitukselle ruusuja & kehottaa kaivosteollisuutta keskittymään toimintansa kestävyyden parantamiseen. #kaivokset
www.sll.fi/ajankohtaist...
www.sll.fi/ajankohtaist...
Ei ole niin pientä veronkorotusta, etteikö kaivosala sitä vastaan pullikoisi – kaivosveroa on välttämätöntä korottaa
Kaivostoimijat ovat joukolla nousseet vastustamaan hallituksen esittämää maltillista kaivosveron korotusta valtakunnallisella mediakampanjalla. Vuonna 2024 Suomessa otettiin vuosien vaikuttamistyön…
www.sll.fi
August 28, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Kaivosala on käynnistänyt mediakampanjan, jonka tavoitteena on saada hallitus perumaan maltillisen kaivosveron maltillinen korotus. Luonnonsuojeluliitto antaa hallitukselle ruusuja & kehottaa kaivosteollisuutta keskittymään toimintansa kestävyyden parantamiseen. #kaivokset
www.sll.fi/ajankohtaist...
www.sll.fi/ajankohtaist...
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
Ympäristöpäällikkömme @heiantti.bsky.social kirjoittaa, että kaivosveron korotus on välttämätöntä ja oikein. Se ohjaa kaivosyhtiöitä muuttamaan toimintaansa kestävämmäksi ja jättämään matalapitoisimmat esiintymät rauhaan. Suomen #kaivosvero on korotuksenkin jälkeen matala.
www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...
www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...
Lukijan mielipide | Hallitus esitys kaivosverosta ansaitsee kiitoksen
Ilman riittävää kaivosverotusta uhkana on, että myös hyvin matalapitoiset ja heikot mineraaliesiintymät avataan.
www.hs.fi
November 3, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Ympäristöpäällikkömme @heiantti.bsky.social kirjoittaa, että kaivosveron korotus on välttämätöntä ja oikein. Se ohjaa kaivosyhtiöitä muuttamaan toimintaansa kestävämmäksi ja jättämään matalapitoisimmat esiintymät rauhaan. Suomen #kaivosvero on korotuksenkin jälkeen matala.
www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...
www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...
Remarkable & important Finnish court decision. Activists stopped logging in Helsinki & didn't follow police's orders to leave. The court ruled activists had the right to break the law (disobedience towards police) because they had to; it was the only way to save a legally protected stream habitat!
Helsingin Stansvikin metsän suojelijoille ei niskoittelutuomioita – käräjäoikeus pohti päätöksenteossa Koijärvi-liikettä
Viittä mielenosoittajaa syytettiin niskoittelusta poliisia vastaan Stansvikin metsässä kaksi vuotta sitten.
yle.fi
October 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Remarkable & important Finnish court decision. Activists stopped logging in Helsinki & didn't follow police's orders to leave. The court ruled activists had the right to break the law (disobedience towards police) because they had to; it was the only way to save a legally protected stream habitat!
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
Bookmarking for later.
Need to think more about the headline claim, but this proposes a very nice new thermal performance curve (TPC) function with appealing properties.
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
A universal thermal performance curve arises in biology and ecology | PNAS
Temperature has strong impacts on all biological and ecological processes, and thermal
performance curves (TPCs) have been employed recurrently to ...
www.pnas.org
October 24, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Bookmarking for later.
German minister of culture criticized countries that boycott the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel participates for "cancel culture". The willingness of leading German politicians to approve genocide is quite baffling. I mean, they were supposed to have learned something from their country's past...
It’s downright poignant to have one (1) idea in your life and for that idea to be wrong
September 20, 2025 at 6:04 PM
German minister of culture criticized countries that boycott the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel participates for "cancel culture". The willingness of leading German politicians to approve genocide is quite baffling. I mean, they were supposed to have learned something from their country's past...
I don't know what to really think of this, but it was an interesting late-night read for sure!
What future does AI hold? With @paulbrainey.bsky.social, we hypothesize that human-AI coevolution is leading to the emergence of a new evolutionary unit of selection. Science fiction or looming fact? Read our paper and judge for yourself. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
September 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I don't know what to really think of this, but it was an interesting late-night read for sure!
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
News from Finland. A 9-year-old lost an especially good stick he’d had since he was 2. He hung up 20 posters. A few days later it was returned. It had been found by a 2-year-old, who wanted to keep it for herself, but her mother made her return it. She got toys, flowers and candy as a reward.
September 13, 2025 at 7:40 AM
News from Finland. A 9-year-old lost an especially good stick he’d had since he was 2. He hung up 20 posters. A few days later it was returned. It had been found by a 2-year-old, who wanted to keep it for herself, but her mother made her return it. She got toys, flowers and candy as a reward.
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
🚨🚨🚨
In the worst tradition of the McCarthy-era anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee, the GOP House Oversight Committee has just launch a massive, grotesque, ad hominem, partisan assault on the US National Academy of Sciences.
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...
In the worst tradition of the McCarthy-era anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee, the GOP House Oversight Committee has just launch a massive, grotesque, ad hominem, partisan assault on the US National Academy of Sciences.
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...
oversight.house.gov
September 12, 2025 at 1:00 AM
🚨🚨🚨
In the worst tradition of the McCarthy-era anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee, the GOP House Oversight Committee has just launch a massive, grotesque, ad hominem, partisan assault on the US National Academy of Sciences.
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...
In the worst tradition of the McCarthy-era anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee, the GOP House Oversight Committee has just launch a massive, grotesque, ad hominem, partisan assault on the US National Academy of Sciences.
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...
Map of areas meeting thresholds for butterfly observation count & species sampling coverage in 2001–2010. I find this fascinating. I expected the good coverage in western and parts of northern Europe, but, knowing little about south-eastern Europe, I didn't expect Serbia to be a data hotspot. (1/3)
August 28, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Map of areas meeting thresholds for butterfly observation count & species sampling coverage in 2001–2010. I find this fascinating. I expected the good coverage in western and parts of northern Europe, but, knowing little about south-eastern Europe, I didn't expect Serbia to be a data hotspot. (1/3)
Enviously peeking in on all the #ESEB2025 content posted here. I've always wanted to go, but never did because ESEB always overlaps with my daughter's birthday! 🙁Well, I currently don't do much evolution anyway, but this year I was at least lucky to have Matthew Nielsen present our recent paper!
August 21, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Enviously peeking in on all the #ESEB2025 content posted here. I've always wanted to go, but never did because ESEB always overlaps with my daughter's birthday! 🙁Well, I currently don't do much evolution anyway, but this year I was at least lucky to have Matthew Nielsen present our recent paper!
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
Interesting paper using @ukbms.bsky.social data to examine extreme weather impacts on butterfly populations. Winter heatwaves and periods of high rainfall appear bad for many species. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🌍
Butterfly abundance changes in England are well associated with extreme climate events
Climate change exerts significant impacts on ecosystems through extreme climate events (ECEs), which are linked to various climate variables and can o…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 14, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Interesting paper using @ukbms.bsky.social data to examine extreme weather impacts on butterfly populations. Winter heatwaves and periods of high rainfall appear bad for many species. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🌍
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all:
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
August 10, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all:
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
Finns are proudly rule-abiding, but living abroad has taught me that we really could sometimes relax a bit. A popular train route can't be run with longer trains because some platforms are too short. In Sweden, they do use the long trains; you just can't exit from the last few cars – problem solved.
VR | Junat Riihimäeltä Hankoon tulivat tupaten täyteen, osa joutunut matkustamaan seisten
Uusi junayhteys on osoittautunut erittäin suosituksi.
www.hs.fi
July 26, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Finns are proudly rule-abiding, but living abroad has taught me that we really could sometimes relax a bit. A popular train route can't be run with longer trains because some platforms are too short. In Sweden, they do use the long trains; you just can't exit from the last few cars – problem solved.
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
As the climate warms, species are heading uphill and poleward, but such moves may require evolutionary adaptations. A study of butterflies finds evolution for the timing of life events, but winter cold still limits range expansion. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
July 11, 2025 at 6:30 PM
As the climate warms, species are heading uphill and poleward, but such moves may require evolutionary adaptations. A study of butterflies finds evolution for the timing of life events, but winter cold still limits range expansion. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Outoa tosiaankin. Myös "avoimesti saatavissa olevien julkaisujen osuus" laatuindikaattorina pistää silmään, kun olen ymmärtänyt että hallitus haluaisi säästää rahaa; indikaattorihan kuvaa pitkälti sitä, kuinka paljon rahaa syydetään kankkulan kaivoon maksamalla julkaisijoille tuplana.
Hyvin outoa on tämä.
Tapio Määttä: Ministeriö asetti yliopistot paremmuusjärjestykseen – yksi peruste on, kuinka suuri osa valmistuneista sijoittuu Uudellemaalle
suomenkuvalehti.fi/mielipide/ta...
Tapio Määttä: Ministeriö asetti yliopistot paremmuusjärjestykseen – yksi peruste on, kuinka suuri osa valmistuneista sijoittuu Uudellemaalle
suomenkuvalehti.fi/mielipide/ta...
Tapio Määttä: Ministeriö asetti yliopistot paremmuusjärjestykseen – yksi peruste on, kuinka suuri osa valmistuneista sijoittuu Uudellemaalle
Indikaattoreilla johtamisen keskeinen ongelma on, että sitä saa, mitä mitataan, kirjoittaa kolumnisti.
suomenkuvalehti.fi
June 30, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Outoa tosiaankin. Myös "avoimesti saatavissa olevien julkaisujen osuus" laatuindikaattorina pistää silmään, kun olen ymmärtänyt että hallitus haluaisi säästää rahaa; indikaattorihan kuvaa pitkälti sitä, kuinka paljon rahaa syydetään kankkulan kaivoon maksamalla julkaisijoille tuplana.
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
June 22, 2025 at 6:20 PM
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
New paper in @pnas.org — and this is my favourite one out of my PhD thesis! Field transplants of wall brown butterflies show life history evolution during climate change-driven range expansion, BUT non-evolving winter tolerance still sets the range limit.🧵1/12. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
doi.org
June 24, 2025 at 11:18 AM
New paper in @pnas.org — and this is my favourite one out of my PhD thesis! Field transplants of wall brown butterflies show life history evolution during climate change-driven range expansion, BUT non-evolving winter tolerance still sets the range limit.🧵1/12. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
I finally managed to find a copy of this crucial, but out of print, Estonian language learning material! 🤩 Brilliant folk/bluegrass band & special guest's children's album – released together with a song- and colouring book! Lovely idea & great music.
June 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I finally managed to find a copy of this crucial, but out of print, Estonian language learning material! 🤩 Brilliant folk/bluegrass band & special guest's children's album – released together with a song- and colouring book! Lovely idea & great music.
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
Very useful blog on safety in the field, with the focus on marginalised communities. Thank you @zoomingbio.bsky.social and @britishecologicalsociety.org for this piece; mandatory reading for anyone teaching and organising field courses.
🧪 #academicsky #DEI
methodsblog.com/2025/06/17/s...
🧪 #academicsky #DEI
methodsblog.com/2025/06/17/s...
Supporting safe and equitable access to field research
To celebrate Pride Month 2025, we are excited to share a series of blogs and podcasts highlighting useful articles and resources for LGBTQIA+ ecologists and researchers. In each post, the authors b…
methodsblog.com
June 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Very useful blog on safety in the field, with the focus on marginalised communities. Thank you @zoomingbio.bsky.social and @britishecologicalsociety.org for this piece; mandatory reading for anyone teaching and organising field courses.
🧪 #academicsky #DEI
methodsblog.com/2025/06/17/s...
🧪 #academicsky #DEI
methodsblog.com/2025/06/17/s...
Ever seen an entomologist at a conference about soil microorganisms? Now's your chance! And, yeah, there's a poster about stuff I've been doing this spring. #ESM2025
June 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Ever seen an entomologist at a conference about soil microorganisms? Now's your chance! And, yeah, there's a poster about stuff I've been doing this spring. #ESM2025
Reposted by Mats Ittonen
🧪
Springer-Nature launched a series of "Discover" journals that closely mimic MDPI titles -- sharing *identical* journal names, and likely similar business model.
What is going on, and why researcher will - as always - fall for it?
A 🧵
the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io/website/post...
What is going on, and why researcher will - as always - fall for it?
A 🧵
the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io/website/post...
Springer Nature Discovers MDPI – The Strain on Scientific Publishing
Home page for the paper ‘The Strain on Scientific Publishing’ by Mark A Hanson, Dan Brockington, Paolo Crosetto and Pablo Gomez Barreiro
the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io
June 16, 2025 at 6:28 AM
🧪
But I'd also like to blame the editors (a small subset of the yous): stop sending really bad or unfinished manuscripts out for review. And please do your job (=decide) instead of sending minor revisions out for review!
From Brian McGill at Dynamic Ecology: why does it take so long for your papers to get reviewed? As Taylor almost said: It's you, hi, you're the problem, it's you. (*Not necessarily for EVERY value of "you") dynamicecology.wordp...
You’re probably why it takes so long for your paper to get reviewed and your excuses are bad
A weird thing happened in scientific publishing during COVID. And it hasn’t gone away. Publications went up 30-50%. And responses to requests to review went down 30-50%. I know the actual statistic…
dynamicecology.wordpress.com
June 12, 2025 at 7:49 AM
But I'd also like to blame the editors (a small subset of the yous): stop sending really bad or unfinished manuscripts out for review. And please do your job (=decide) instead of sending minor revisions out for review!