Andreanna J. Welch

Additional Professional Experience

Bond Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015

Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics | Migratory Bird Center

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

National Zoological Park

Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2013 - 2015

School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University

Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz

Postdoctoral Research Associate,  2011-2013

Department of Biological Sciences

University at Buffalo

Education

2011  Ph.D. Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics; University of Maryland, College Park

2003 B.Sc. Environmental and Forest Biology; State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Publications  - Lab members in bold - Also see my Google Scholar Profile

**For peer-reviewed, accepted versions for most recent papers check my Durham Research Online page.

• Estandía A, Chesser RT, James HF, Levy M, Ferrer-Obiol J, Bretagnolle V, González-Solís J, Welch AJ. Substitution rate variation in a robust Procellariiform seabird phylogeny is not solely explained by body mass, flight efficiency, population size or life history traits. Preprint published on bioRxiv at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.27.453752v1.abstract

• Jarrett C, Powell LL, Claire TTR, Kowo C, Ferreira DF, Quiñones ALS, Welch AJ, Haydon DT, Matthiopoulos J. Maintaining food-webs that balance biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and dis-services in biodiverse agricultural systems. In Review at Ecological Applications. Preprint published on bioRxiv at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.31.596784v1.abstract

• Miller ET, Wood A, Baiz MD, Welch AJ, Fleischer RC, Dale AS, Toews DPL. 2025. Re-assessing niche partitioning in MacArthur’s Warblers: foraging behavior, morphology, and diet differentiation in a phylogenetic context Biology Letters 21:20250001. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0001

• Berg AA, Askew M, Seersholm FV, Verry AJF, Hoelzel AR, Welch AJ, Greig K, Walter R, Knapp M, Barlow A, Paijmans JLA, Waters JM, Bunce M, McDonald K, O’Connor S, Hall B, Koch PL, Baroni C, Salvatore AM, Faulkner P, Ho SYW, Rawlence NJ, de Bruyn M. 2025. Postglacial recolonization of the Southern Ocean by elephant seals occurred from multiple glacial refugia. Global Change Biology 31:e70101 http://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70101

• Jarrett C, Nwaogu CJ, Tchana CN, Kamkeng MFM, Quiñones ALS, Olguin-Villa MC, Helm B, Powell LL, Welch AJ. 2025. Moult is associated with higher diversity of food items in the diet of Common Bulbuls (Pycnonotus barbatus) in Cameroon. IBIS In Press. http://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13395

• Ferreira DF, Jarrett C, Atagana PJ, Welch AJ, Powell LL, Rebelo H. 2024. The role of landscape context in shaping bat community assemblages in African cacao plantations. Science of the Total Environment 954:176393  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176393

• Byerly PA, Kearns AM, Welch AJ, Ochirbat M-E, Marra PE, Wilson A, Campana MG, Fleischer RC. 2024. Museum genomics reveal range-wide panmixia in an extinct North American passerine. Scientific Reports 14:17047                  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-67595-5

• LaBarge LR, Krofel M, Allen ML, Hill RA, Welch AJ, Allan ATL. 2024. Keystone individuals - Linking predator traits to community ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 39:983-994 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.07.001

• Lesage C, Cherel Y, Delord K, d’Orchymont Q, Fretin M, Levy M, Welch AJ, Barbraud C. 2024. Pre-eradication updated seabird survey including new records on Amsterdam Island, southern Indian Ocean. Polar Biology 47:1093-1105.          https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03282-5

• Michael NP, Torres R, Welch AJ, Felis J, Adams J, Bonillas-Monge ME, Hodgson S, López-Márquez LA, Martínez-Flores A, Castro Meijas GE, Wiley AE. 2024. Carotenoid skin ornaments as flexible indicators of male foraging behavior in a marine predator: Variation among Mexican colonies of brown booby (Sula leucogaster). Marine Biology 171:118 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04429-y

• Jarrett C, Cyril K, Haydon DT, Wandji CA, Ferreira DF, Welch AJ, Powell LL, Matthiopoulos J. 2024. Fewer pests and more ecosystem service-providing arthropods in shady African cocoa farms: Insights from a data integration study. Journal of Applied Ecology 61:304-315. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14563

• Baker KH, Gray HWI, Lister A, Spassov N, Welch AJ, Trantalidou K, De Cupere B, Bonillas -Monge ME, De Jong M, Çakirlar C, Sykes N, Hoelzel AR. 2024. Ancient and modern DNA tracks temporal and spatial dynamics in the European fallow deer (since the Eemian interglacial. Scientific Reports 14:3015 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48112-6

• Hall B, Koch PL, Baroni C, Slvatore MC, Hoelzel AR, de Bruyn M, Welch AJ. 2023. Widespread southern elephant seal occupation of the Victoria Land Coast implies a warmer-than-present Ross Sea in the mid-to-late Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 303:107991 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.107991

• Ferreira DF, Darling A, Jarrett C, Atagana PJ, Sandjo PR, Taedoumg H, Welch AJ, Rebelo H, Powell LL. 2023. Not all farms are created equal: Shady African cocoa farms promote a richer bat fauna. Biological Conservation 284:110191 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110191

• Jarrett C, Haydon DT, Morales J, Ferreira DF, Forzi F, Welch AJ, Powell LL, Matthiopoulos J. 2022. Integration of mark-recapture and acoustic data for unbiased population estimation in animal communities. Ecology 103:e3769 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3769

• Ferrer-Obiol J, James HF, Chesser RT, Bretagnolle V, González-Solís J, Rozas J, Welch AJ, Riutort M. 2022. Paleoceanographic changes in the late Pliocene promoted rapid diversification in pelagic seabirds. Journal of Biogeography 49:171-188

• Hoenig BD, Snider AM, Forsman AM, Hobson KA, Latta SC, Miller ET, Polito MJ, Powell LL, Rogers SL, Sherry TW, Toews DPL, Welch AJ, Taylor SS, Porter BA. 2022. Current methods and future directions in avian diet analysis. Ornithology 139:1-28 (Special issue on diet analysis).

• Ferrer-Obiol J, James HF, Chesser RT, Bretagnolle V, González-Solís J, Rozas J, Riutort M, Welch AJ. 2021. Integrating sequence capture and restriction-site associated DNA sequencing to resolve recent radiations of pelagic seabirds. Systematic Biology 70:976-996.

• Jarrett C, Smith T, Claire TTR, Ferreira DF, Tchoumbou M, Elikwo MNF, Wolfe J, Brezeski K, Welch AJ, Hanna R, Powell LL. 2021. Bird communities in African cocoa agroforestry are diverse but lack specialized insectivores. Journal of Applied Ecology 58:1237-1247.

• Jarrett C, Powell LL, McDevitt H, Helm B, Welch AJ. 2020. Bitter fruits of hard labour: Diet metabarcoding and telemetry reveal that urban songbirds travel further for lower-quality food. Oecologia 193:377-388.

• Ferreira D, Torrent L, Welch AJ, Wolfe JD, Brzeski K, Powel LL. 2020. First record of a piebald Bates’s Slit-faced Bat, Nycteris arge (Chiroptera: Nycteridae) from Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa. Journal of Bat Research & Conservation 13:88-92.

• Cassin-Sackett L, Welch AJ,  Venkatraman M, Callicrate TE, Fleischer RC. 2019. The Contribution of Genomics to Bird Conservation. In: Kraus R (ed): Avian Genomics in Ecology and Evolution: From the lab into the wild. Springer International Publishing (Switzerland).

• Michael N, Torres R, Welch AJ, Adams J, Bonillas-Monge ME, Felis J, López-Márquez LA, Martínez-Flores A, Wiley AE. 2018. Carotenoid ornaments reflect foraging propensity in the brown booby (Sula leucogaster): revisiting the rarity hypothesis using stable isotopes and GPS tracking. Biology Letters. 4:20180398.

• Chesser TR, Vaseghi H, Bergner LM, Cortes-Rodriguez MN, Welch AJ, and Collins CT. 2018. Molecular systematics of swifts of the genus Chaetura (Aves: Apodiformes: Apodidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 128:162-171.

• Hofman CA , Rick TC, Erlandson JM, Reeder-Myers L, Welch AJ, Buckley M. 2018. Collagen Fingerprinting and the Earliest Marine Mammal Hunting in North America. Scientific Reports 8:10014.

• Lucas T, Welch AJ, Zanchetta C, Chesser TR, Manno M, Donnadieu C, Bretagnolle V, Pante E. 2018. Evidence for a duplicated mitochondrial region in Audubon’s shearwater based on MinION sequencing. Mitochondrial DNA Part A. In press. DOI: 10.1080/24701394.2018.1484116

• Gray HWI, Nishida S, Welch AJ, Moura AE, Tanabe S, Kiani M, Cullock R, Möller L, Natoli A, Ponnempalam L, Minton G, Gore M, Collins T, Wilson A, Baldwin R, Hoelzel AR. 2018. Cryptic lineage differentiation among Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the northwest Indian Ocean. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 122:1-14. 

• Welch AJ, Collins K, Ratan A, Drautz D, Schuster SC, Lindqvist C. 2016. The quest to resolve recent radiations: Plastid phylogenomics of extinct and endangered Hawaiian endemic mints (Lamiaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 99:16-33. Abstract. PDF.

• Welch AJ, Collins K, Ratan A, Drautz D, Schuster SC, Lindqvist C. 2016. Data characterizing the chloroplast genomes of extinct and endagered Hawaiian endemic mints (Lamiaceae) and their close relatives. Data in Brief 7:900-922. Abstract/PDF.

• Hailer F, Welch AJ. 2016. Evolutionary history of polar and brown bears. In: eLS. John Whiley & Sons LTd, Chichester, UK.

• Moura AE, Kenny JG, Chaudhuri R, Hughes MA, Welch AJ, Reisinger RR, de Bruyn PJN, Dahlheim ME, Hall N, Hoelzel AR. 2014. Population genomics of the killer whale indicates ecotype evolution in sympatry involving both selection and drift. Molecular Ecology 23: 5179 - 5192. Abstract. PDF.

• Welch AJ, Bedoya-Reina OC, Carretero-Paulet L, Miller W, Rode KD, Lindqvist C. 2014. Polar bears exhibit genome-wide signatures of bioenergetic adaptation to life in the Arctic environment. Genome Biology and Evolution. 6:433-450.  Abstract. PDF.

• Welch AJ, Olson SL, Fleischer RC. 2014. Phylogenetic relationships of the extinct St. Helena petrel, Pterodroma rupinarum Olson (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae), based on ancient DNA. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170:494-505. Abstract. PDF.

• Wiley AE, Ostrom PH, Welch AJ, Fleischer RC, Gandhi H, Southon JR, Stafford TW Jr., Penniman J, Hu D, Duvall F, James HF. 2013. Millennial-scale records from a wide-ranging predator show evidence of recent human impact to oceanic food webs. PNAS 110:8972-8977. Abstract. PDF.

*See the Editors' Choice article about our work in Science. The work was also highlighted on the National Science Foundation website.

• Ibarra-Laclette E, Lyons E, Hernández-Guzmán G, Pérez-Torres CA, Carretero-Paulet L, Chang T-H, Lan T, Welch AJ, Juárez MJA, Simpson J, Fernández-Cortés A, Arteaga-Vázquez M, Gongora-Castillo E, Acevedo-Hernández G, Schuster SC, Himmelbauer H, Minoche AE, Xu SE, Lynch M, Oropeza-Aburto A, Cervantes SA, de Jesús Ortega-Estrada M, Cervantes-Luevano JI, Michael T, Mockler T, Bryant D, Herrera-Estrella A, Albert VA, Herrera-Estrella L. 2013 Architecture and evolution of a minimal plant genome. Nature 498:94-98. Abstract. PDF.

*Here is an article at NBC News about our work.

• Miller W, Schuster SC, Welch AJ, Ratan A, Bedoya-Reina OC, Zhao F, Kim HL, Burhans RC, Drautz DI, Wittenkindt NE, Tomsho LP, Ibarra-Laclette E, Herrera-Estrella L, Peacock E, Farley S, Sage GK, Rode K, Obbard M, Montiel R, Bachmann L, Ingólfsson Ó, Aars J, Mailund T, Wiig Ø, Talbot SL, and Lindqvist C. 2012 Polar bear and brown bear genomes reveal ancient admixture and demographic footprints of past climate change. PNAS 109:E2382-E2390. Abstract. PDF.

*This work was covered by the New York Times. Ranked 13th out of the top 25 stories of 2012 by Science News.

• Welch AJ, Wiley AE, James HF, Ostrom PH, Stafford T, and Fleischer RC. 2012. Ancient DNA reveals genetic stability despite demographic decline: three thousand years of population history in the endemic Hawaiian petrel. Molecular Biology and Evolution 29:3729-3740. Abstract. PDF.

• Welch AJ, Fleischer RC, James HF, Wiley AE, Ostrom PH, Adams J, Duvall F, Holmes N, Hu D, Penniman J, Swindle K. 2012.  Population divergence and gene flow in an endangered and highly mobile seabird. Heredity 109:19-28. Abstract. PDF.

*Heredity highlighted our work in this article.

• Wiley AE, Welch AJ, Ostrom PH, James HF, Stricker CA, Fleischer RC, Gandhi, H, Adams J, Ainley DG, Duvall F, Homes N, Hu D, Judge S, Penniman J, Swindle K. 2012. Foraging segregation and genetic divergence between geographically proximate colonies of a highly mobile seabird. Oecologia 1:119-130. Abstract. PDF.

• Welch AJ, Yoshida AA, Fleischer RC.  2011. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences reveal recent divergence in morphologically indistinguishable petrels.  Molecular Ecology 20:1364-1377. Abstract.

• Pyle P, Welch AJ, Fleischer RC. 2011. A new species of shearwater (Puffinus) recorded from Midway Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Condor 113:518-527. Abstract. PDF.

*Here is an article about this work from the American Bird Conservancy

• Welch AJ and Fleischer RC. 2011. Polymorphic microsatellite markers for the endangered Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis). Conservation Genetics Resources 3:581-584. Abstract.

• Welch AJ, Stiponovic AJ, Maynard CA, and Powell WA.  2007. The effects of oxalic acid on transgenic Castanea dentata callus tissue expressing oxalate oxidase. Plant Science 172:488-96. Abstract.

Funding