Johanna Mappes is an evolutionary ecologist from the University of Helsinki, Finland.
Research
Her research focuses on the behavioral and genetic mechanisms shaping variation in animal interactions, such as those between predators and prey. With her research group at predatorpreyinteractions.com, she investigates how interactions with predators and conspecifics influence the persistence of color polymorphism within and between populations.
Colourful animals are used as models because they are an excellent tool for understanding adaptation. Animals use colours in social interactions, during sexual communication and in communication between predators and prey and they are involved in thermoregulation, immunity, and environmental shielding.
Her main study species include the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis), vipers (Viperidae), the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) and the drumming wolf-spider (Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata).
Grants and awards
Johanna has been recognized as a Research Professor of the Academy of Finland on two occasions and holds memberships in prestigious societies such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). She served as a Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Jyväskylä, and was elected member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters in 2017.
Selected bibliography
- Cuthill, Innes C., William L. Allen, Kevin Arbuckle, Barbara Caspers, George Chaplin, Mark E. Hauber, Geoffrey E. Hill, et al. 2017. “The Biology of Color.” Science (New York, N.Y.) 357 (6350). https://doi.org/1126/science.aan0221.
- Endler, John A., and Johanna Mappes. “Predator Mixes and the Conspicuousness of Aposematic Signals.” The American Naturalist 163 (4): 532–47.
- Mappes, Johanna, Nicola Marples, and John A. Endler. “The Complex Business of Survival by Aposematism.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20 (11): 598–603.
- Nokelainen, Ossi, Juan A. Galarza, Jimi Kirvesoja, Kaisa Suisto, and Johanna Mappes. 2022. “Genetic Colour Variation Visible for Predators and Conspecifics Is Concealed from Humans in a Polymorphic Moth.” Journal of Evolutionary Biology 35 (3): 467–78.
