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.
Interests and responsibilities
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
Qualifications
- 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., Thurston, L., Wetherhill, A. & Newson, S.E 2025. Connecting Constable and Gainsborough Country – using acoustics to support landscape recovery. BTO Research Report 785:
- Ashton-Butt, A., Gillings, S., Thurston, L., Wells, F., Wetherhill, A. & Newson, S.E. 2025. Farming in Project Landscapes – Turtle Dove Monitoring Project, 2024 Report. BTO Research Report 774:
- Ashton-Butt, A., Gough, M., Higgins, S.L., Wetherhill, A. & Newson, S.E 2025. Passive acoustic monitoring on the Hepple Estate, 2024 – piloting the rewilding monitoring framework. BTO Research Report 782:
- Ashton-Butt, A., Hill, D., Higgins, S.L., Wetherhill, A. & Newson, S.E. 2025. Passive acoustic monitoring with Heal Rewilding, 2024 - piloting the Rewilding Monitoring Framework.. BTO Research Report 783:
- Ashton-Butt, A., Jackson, C., Higgins, S.L., Wetherhill, A. & Newson, S.E 2025. Passive acoustic monitoring with the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, 2024 – piloting the Rewilding Monitoring Framework. BTO Research Report 784:
- MacIsaac, J., Newson, S., Ashton-Butt, A., Pearce, H. & Milner, B. 2024. Improving acoustic species identification using data augmentation within a deep learning framework. Ecological Informatics 83: doi:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102851
- Russell, C., Franco, A., Atkinson, P., Väli, Ü. & Ashton-Butt, A. 2024. Active European warzone impacts raptor migration. Current Biology 35: 2272-2277 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. 2024. Protected areas, drought, and grazing regimes influence fire occurrence in a fire-prone Mediterranean region. Fire Ecology 30: 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. 2023. Landscape fires disproportionally affect areas of conservation priority but only under low moisture conditions. Science of The Total Environment 884: doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163849
Other publications
Ashton‐Butt, Adham, Simon Willcock, Dedi Purnomo, Anak AK Aryawan, Resti Wahyuningsih, Mohammad Naim, Guy M. Poppy, Jean‐Pierre Caliman, Kelvin S‐H. Peh, and Jake L. Snaddon. 2019. Replanting of first‐cycle oil palm results in a second wave of biodiversity loss. Ecology and Evolution 9, no. 11: 6433-6443.
Ashton-Butt, Adham, Anak A. Aryawan, Amelia S. Hood, Mohammad Naim, Dedi Purnomo, Resti Wahyuningsih, Simon Willcock et al. 2018. Understory vegetation in oil palm plantations benefits soil biodiversity and decomposition rates. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
Jamhuri, Jamaluddin, Liza D. Samantha, Sze Ling Tee, Norizah Kamarudin, Adham Ashton-Butt, Akbar Zubaid, Alex M. Lechner & Badrul Azhar. 2018. Selective logging causes the decline of large-sized mammals including those in unlogged patches surrounded by logged and agricultural areas. Biological conservation 227: 40-47.
Tee, S. L., Samantha, L. D., Kamarudin, N., Akbar, Z., Lechner, A. M., Ashton‐Butt, A., & Azhar, B. 2018. Urban forest fragmentation impoverishes native mammalian biodiversity in the tropics. Ecology and Evolution, 8(24), 12506-12521.
Ashraf, Mohamad, Raja Zulkifli, Ruzana Sanusi, Kamil A. Tohiran, Razak Terhem, Ramle Moslim, Ahmad R. Norhisham, Adham Ashton-Butt & Badrul Azhar. 2018. Alley-cropping system can boost arthropod biodiversity and ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations. Agriculture, ecosystems & environment 260: 19-26.
Yahya, M. S., Syafiq, M., Ashton-Butt, A., Ghazali, A., Asmah, S., & Azhar, B. 2017. Switching from monoculture to polyculture farming benefits birds in oil palm production landscapes: Evidence from mist netting data. Ecology and Evolution, 7(16).