Education
Doctor of Philosophy
2018–2024
Stockholm University, Department of Zoology
Subject: Animal Ecology
PhD thesis: Life history evolution during a climate-driven butterfly range expansion
Supervisors: Karl Gotthard, Philipp Lehmann and Christopher W. Wheat
Master of science
2015–2017
University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and environmental sciences
Major: ecology and evolutionary biology, minor in media and communication studies
Master’s thesis (written in Finnish) available online: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/233103. Thesis supervisors: Heikki Helanterä, Perttu Seppä, and Sanja Hakala
Bachelor of science
2009–2015
University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and environmental sciences
Major in ecology and evolutionary biology, minor in Environmental change and policy
Publications
von Schmalensee, L., Ittonen, M., Brødsgaard Shoshan, A., Roberts, K.T., Siemers, I., Süess, P., Wiklund, C. & Gotthard, K. 2024. Methodological artefacts cause counter-intuitive evolutionary conclusions in a simulation study. Ecology Letters 26: e14439. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14439
Ittonen, M., Roberts, K.T., Lehmann, P. & Gotthard, K. 2023. A range-expanding butterfly is susceptible to cold and long winters but shows no signs of local adaptation to winter conditions. Functional Ecology 37: 3064–3078. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14445
Ittonen, M., Hagelin, A., Wiklund, C. & Gotthard, K. 2022. Local adaptation to seasonal cues at the fronts of two parallel, climate‐induced butterfly range expansions. Ecology Letters 25: 2022–2033. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14085
Hakala, S. M.*, Ittonen, M.*, Seppä, P. & Helanterä, H. 2020. Limited dispersal and an unexpected aggression pattern in a native supercolonial ant. Ecology and Evolution 10: 3671–3685. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6154
* Joint first authors
Grants
2022: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Biodiversity and Climate Seed Grant 95,000 SEK (9,100 €)
2021: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Biodiversity and Climate Seed Grant (with Matthew Nielsen), 50,000 SEK (4,900 €)
2021: Alice och Lars Siléns fond, 5,000 SEK (4,900 €)
2020: Alice och Lars Siléns fond, 6,000 SEK (600 €)
2019: Albert och Maria Bergströms stiftelse, 29,000 SEK (2,700 €)
2017: Betty Väänäsen rahasto, 950 €
Awards and honours
2019: Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Bolin Days poster competition runner up, 10.000 SEK (950 €)
Conference presentations
2024: Nordic Oikos 2024, Lund, Sweden (oral)
2023: Evolution in Sweden, Uppsala, Sweden (oral)
2022: Bolin Days, Stockholm, Sweden (poster)
2022: International Society for Behavioral Ecology Congress, Stockholm, Sweden (oral)
2022: International Congress of Entomology, Helsinki, Finland (oral)
2021: Bolin Days, Stockholm, Sweden (poster)
2020: Evolution in Sweden, Tjärnö, Sweden (oral)
2019: Bolin Days, Stockholm, Sweden (oral and poster)
2018: Bolin Days, Stockholm, Sweden (poster)
Additional research experience
Research assistant
2017–2018
Swedish university of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology. Field and laboratory work in several research groups and projects.
Research assistant
September 2016, September 2017, April 2018
Metapopulation Research Centre, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki. Field work in a classic metapopulation project.
Teaching experience
May 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022: Teaching assistant on undergraduate field course “Ecology I” at Stockholm University. Taught experimental planning, basic statistics and data analysis, and scientific writing.
February–March 2019: Teaching assistant on undergraduate course “Ecological and Evolutionary consequences of climate change” at Stockholm university. Led discussions on scientific articles.
Master’s student supervision, 2020–2021: Alexandra Hagelin, “Local adaptation of diapause induction in a range expanding butterfly”. Co-supervisor with main supervisor Karl Gotthard.
Professional service
Co-organizer of 2019 postgraduate symposium at the Department of Zoology, Stockholm university
Peer review for Journal of Evolutionary Biology, NeoBiota, and Ecological Entomology
Other experience and volunteer work
One Health Finland, 2016–2017
- Founding board member
University of Helsinki, 2011–2017
- Member of several administrative groups and committees during undergraduate studies.
Student Union of the University of Helsinki, 2011–2016
- Executive board member in 2014 (full time position). Responsible for and organized the student union’s comunications, development cooperation and bilingual activities together with respective permanent staff members.
- Member of several political and administrative groups and councils at the Student Union
Subject and faculty organizations, 2011–2016
- Broad activity in student organizations during undergraduate studies at the University of Helsinki. Chairperson of Svenska Naturvetarklubben 2012–2013.
Skills and interests
Languages
- English – Fully proficient
- Swedish – Native speaker
- Finnish – Native speaker
Software
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe PhotoShop
- Adobe Lightroom
- QGIS
Programming and command languages
- R
- Bash
Laboratory skills
- DNA extraction and quality assessment (gel electrophoresis, Qubit, NanoDrop)
- Laboratory rearing of various butterfly and ant species
- Insect cold tolerance assays
Interests
Photography, birdwatching, mushroom picking, hiking, and music (guitar strummer, ukulele beginner, and children’s song singer; listener of folk & world music, classic rock, power pop, accessible prog rock, etc.; lover of The Jayhawks)
