[1][2] 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).
[1][2] Mappes earned her MSc degree in 1991 and her PhD in 1994, both from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
In 2003 The Academy of Finland awarded Mappes the 'Young Dynamic Researcher Award' for her research merits in developing the ‘novel world method’ to study the evolution of aposematism.
[4] Mappes served as a Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Jyväskylä from 2008-2019, where she headed the Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions for the Academy of Finland from 2012-2018.
As of 2020, she is a Professor of Ecology at the University of Helsinki, Research Professor at the Academy of Finland,[4] and member of the governing board for the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.