Senior Research Ecologist
An experienced field biologist and analyst in the Framing Futures team, Adham takes a broad multi-taxa approach to understand how best to modify or restore landscapes for the conservation of biodiversity, adaptation to environmental change (e.g. climate change), the ecosystem services provided and the trade-offs between these. Adham is an expert at the use of passive acoustic monitoring to monitor a diverse range of often cryptic taxa.
Recent projects have included leading the research and monitoring underpinning a large-scale 5-year landscape restoration project in the Polesia region of Belarus and Ukraine, a collaborative project under the umbrella of the Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme.
Adham has advised and been involved with other ELSP projects in Scotland, Romania and Portugal and, with Máire Kirkland, developed models looking at the role of climate and edaphic factors (e.g. soil moisture) on the size and intensity of wildfires in Portugal and Polesia.
Other information
- Honorary Lecturer, University of East Anglia
- Visiting Fellow University of Leeds
- BSc (Hons): Environmental and Ecological Biology, Newcastle University, 2010-2013
- PhD: Factors influencing biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in oil palm landscapes, University of Southampton, 2015-2018
Recent BTO Publications
- Ashton-Butt, A., Gillings, S., Thurston, L., Wells, F., Wetherhill, A. & Newson, S.E. Farming in Project Landscapes – Turtle Dove Monitoring Project, 2024 Report View at journal website( DOI: )
- MacIsaac, J., Newson, S., Ashton-Butt, A., Pearce, H. & Milner, B. Improving acoustic species identification using data augmentation within a deep learning framework 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102851 View at journal website( DOI:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102851 )
- Russell, C., Franco, A., Atkinson, P., Väli, Ü. & Ashton-Butt, A. Active European warzone impacts raptor migration 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.047 View at journal website( DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.047 )
- Kirkland, M., Atkinson, P.W., Aliácar, S., Saavedra, D., De Jong, M.C., Dowling, T.P.F. & Ashton-Butt, A. Protected areas, drought, and grazing regimes influence fire occurrence in a fire-prone Mediterranean region 10.1186/s42408-024-00320-9 View at journal website( DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00320-9 )
- Kirkland, M., Atkinson, P.W., Pearce-Higgins, J.W., De Jong, M., Dowling, T.P.F., Grummoe, D., Critchley, M. & Ashton-Butt, A. Landscape fires disproportionally affect areas of conservation priority but only under low moisture conditions 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163849 View at journal website( DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163849 )